DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan_Suspected Islamic militants fired rockets, mortars and small arms at a security post in a restive tribal region in Pakistan early Monday, triggering a gunbattle with troops that left one attacker dead and two others wounded, an intelligence official and a fighter said.The fighting broke out before dawn in Hamrang, a village in the South Waziristan tribal area that borders Afghanistan, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his job.
The troops retaliated with artillery and small arms, forcing the assailants to retreat toward nearby hills after an hour-long gunbattle, he said.
The militants took away their wounded comrade, leaving splashes of blood at the scene from where the attack on the post was launched. No one among the soldiers was injured and their post was not hit in the raid, he said.
The wounded militant, a local tribesmen, died later Monday at a private hospital in Wana, the main town South Waziristan, a fellow fighter said on condition he not be named for fear of being traced by security forces.
The two other attackers were only slightly injured, said the man by telephone from Wana, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) northwest of Dera Ismail Khan, a city located near South Waziristan.