Security forces backed by heavy artillery and helicopter gunships killed 65 militants but lost 20 soldiers in two battles in North Waziristan on Sunday, Reuters quoted officials and witnesses as saying. The fighting began on Saturday night when militants ambushed an army convoy in Mir Ali, 24 kilometres east of agency headquarters Miranshah, on the Miranshah-Bannu road. The security forces launched an operation against the militants, said Major General Waheed Arshad, director general of Inter Services Public Relations. Ten army soldiers were killed and 10 wounded.Later at around 6:00pm, militants attacked another army convoy in the same area near Sokhail. Gen Arshad said the security forces killed 18 militants and injured 15 in the subsequent fighting. Ten soldiers were killed and 12 injured. Pakistani fighter jets also reportedly bombed the area. The military operation was continuing and helicopters were hovering over the area. The security forces also sealed the Mir Ali bazaar and the army was patrolling the area.
Three killed as shell hits house: Two women and a young girl were killed in Sokhail village when an artillery shell fired by the security forces hit the house of a tribesman named Hanif.
Separately the military said security forces arrested two militants in North Waziristan, AFP reported. “The miscreants were fired upon by security forces when they were fleeing from the site after planting an IED (improvised explosive device),” it said in a statement.
Five FC men return: Five Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel, among a total 21 men reportedly kidnapped on October 2 at the Rocha Post in Bakka Khel, Bannu frontier region, safely returned to Bannu on Sunday. They were identified as Hawaldar Azeem, Hawaldar Younis, Naik Muhammad Anwar, Jawan Mujtaba and Jawan Amir. ItÂ’s not clear how they reached Bannu. However, Gen Arshad, the ISPR DG, said that no FC man had been kidnapped in North Waziristan over the last few days. He said the reports were based on misinformation spread by the militants as they had suffered heavy reverses over the last couple of weeks.
Bodies returned: Locals told NNI that the bodies of 10 Pakistanis killed in Afghanistan while fighting against US-led forces were brought to North Waziristan on Saturday. They said officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who had shifted the bodies to the tribal region, were detained by Pakistani authorities but were freed on Saturday. The bodies were sent to their families late on Saturday.