PESHAWAR: Seventeen suspected foreign militants and a Pakistan Army soldier were killed in a clash near the Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan Agency late on Saturday night, officials told Daily Times on Sunday. The army cordoned off a compound near Miranshah after receiving information that foreign militants might be there. During the search, militants tried escaping in two vehicles, but were stopped by the army. The drivers ignored the orders and men sitting inside started shooting and throwing grenades at the soldiers, killing one. The soldiers shot back and destroyed one of the vehicles with an RPG, which also ignited munitions in the vehicle.A military source speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons said the dead included 15 women and children and two men. Four Central Asians and 12 local supporters were arrested, ISPR said. Explosive materials, detonators and instructions for making improvised explosive devices were seized from the scene, along with four passports from Kazakhstan, it added. The women and boys were used as a âhuman shieldsâ, but they also threw grenades at the troops, the release said.
Residents of Miranshah said troops had cordoned off the area after the clash. Security officials have said hundreds of Arab, Central Asian and Afghan militants, allegedly linked to the Al Qaeda terrorist network, are in the North and South Waziristan Agencies bordering Afghanistan. Army and paramilitary troops have carried out several operations to hunt down fighters in the two areas.
In South Waziristan Agency on Sunday, gunmen fired on a pro-government tribal elder, missing him but killing one passer-by and injuring another, an intelligence official said on customary condition of anonymity. Malik Khan Mohammed Machikhel, 50, was attacked in a bazaar in Khaisor, a village northeast of Wana, South Waziristan Agency, the official said. Anti-government militants have been accused of killing several tribal elders suspected of helping authorities.