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Terror suspects among 11 killed in Pakistan
At least 11 people were killed and six injured yesterday when Pakistani troops fired on attackers in the northwestern South Waziristan tribal area, a suspected sanctuary of terrorist elements near the Afghan border. A military statement said two or three vehicles approached a Frontier Corps checkpost outside Wana, the main town in the rugged mountainous region, in the morning. The occupants of the vehicles opened fire on the checkpost and the troops retaliated, the statement said, adding that those killed included suspected terrorists and some civilians caught in the crossfire.The troops arrested 16 people after the shootout and turned them over to the custody of the political administration of the region, it said. The clash came hours after a pre-dawn mortar attack by "some miscreants" on the same Frontier Corps checkpost and an army camp in the area that caused no casualties, the statement said. According to official sources and residents in Wana the dead included five Pakistani tribesmen and six Afghans. The troop presence in South Waziristan has been beefed up and political authorities have called a meeting of tribal elders in Wana today, the sources said. The administration intends to pay compensation to the relatives of innocent civilians killed in the firing in consultation with the tribal council, they said. This looks like a different, probably more accurate version of the 11 "civilians" bumped off in a van reported yesterday. Posted by: Fred 2004-02-29 |
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