Fighting rages in NW Pakistan, 15 militants, one soldier killed
Fifteen militants and one soldier were killed on Thursday when the Pakistani military mounted another operation in a week of fighting designed to seize control of a remote but strategic valley in the northwest, the army said.
The military has faced fierce resistance
from the Taliban and its allies in the Tirah Valley in the Khyber region since
troops set out to dislodge insurgents from strategically important heights above
the valley six days ago.
Pakistani military officials say insurgents use
the valley as a base camp that enables them to carry out raids in other
semi-autonomous tribal areas near the Afghan border.
"Fresh clashes
started early Thursday when the security forces launched another operation to
secure control of the valley," said a military official in the northwestern
Pakistani city of Peshawar, adding that 15 militants and a soldier had been
killed.
On Tuesday, the military said 23 Pakistani soldiers and 110
militants had been killed in four days of fierce fighting in the
area.
Since 2009, the Pakistani military and pro-government militias have
clawed back territory from the Taliban, who once controlled land a few hours'
drive from the capital, Islamabad.
However, a series of army offensives
have failed to break the back of the Taliban, which is close to al Qaeda and is
blamed for many of the suicide bombings across nuclear-armed Pakistan, a
strategic US ally.
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