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| India-Pakistan |
| Taliban kill seven pro-govt lashkar members in Bannu |
| 2009-09-25 |
| Suspected Taliban killed seven members of a pro-government tribal lashkar near North Waziristan on Thursday, officials and local residents said. The victims of the Taliban ambush in Janikhel area in Frontier Region Bannu included tribal chief Malik Sultan, who was raising a militia against the Taliban in the region. "All seven were killed on the spot," Bannu District Police Officer Iqbal Marwat told reporters. In retaliation, members of the laskhar killed nine Taliban. Two khasadar personnel were also killed in the skirmishes, APP reported. Separately, Taliban killed seven tribal heads, according to sources. Their bodies were found from various parts of Bannu on Thursday, sources said, adding that investigation was underway. Saddled with a traditional standing army that lacks adequate equipment and counter-insurgency specialists, one of the country's answers to counter Taliban has been to arm and support tribesmen to protect communities in the northwest. A blistering assault in and around Swat was launched last April after the Taliban moved further towards Islamabad following a two-year insurgency to enforce sharia. |
| Posted by:Fred |