| Bush is in town, y'see... More on yesterday's festivities... |
 Pakistani security forces say at least 70 tribal militants have been killed in fighting in North Waziristan, close to the border with Afghanistan.
| "Yep. They're all dead now. Won't be bothering us anymore..." |
A number of members of the Pakistani security forces were also killed.
The latest fighting started on Saturday morning when a group of more than 100 tribal militants attacked a military post in a small town. Two paramilitary troops were killed in the attack. The security forces retaliated in a big way killing more than 20 militants.
Soon the fighting spread to North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah where several hundred militants tried to storm the main headquarters of the paramilitary troops. The security forces repulsed the attack using heavy machine guns and artillery.
| "That little dinky thing? That's a gun? Lookee here... This is a gun!" |
The president of the area told local reporters that the place near the paramilitary headquarters was littered with bodies, but in the absence of any direct contact from the town it was difficult to corroborate such reports.
Online reported that a seminary belonging to notable tribal cleric Maulana Abdul Haq Haqqani was also destroyed in the conflict. However, it was not known if Haqqani was in his seminary at the time of the attack. Eyewitnesses said that the battle has destroyed all means of communication and electricity in the area.
Iqbal Khattak adds from Peshawar: The exchange started on Saturday afternoon after the main army base was attacked by militants “from all sides”, eyewitnesses and a military official said. “Security forces are retaliating after coming under the miscreants’ fire at the main base in Miranshah from all sides,” the military official said. “The main military base was attacked from all sides and the security forces retaliated in self-defence,” a government official said.
Cleric Abdul Khaliq was blamed for Saturday’s provocation after he was declared the “mastermind” of Thursday’s occupation of government buildings, including a telephone exchange, in Miranshah. “This man is trying to provoke the security forces by instigating anti-state activities, but we are exercising maximum restraint to avoid collateral damage,” the military official said.
| Abdul Khaliq, recall, is the local version of Mullah Omar. |
Miranshah lost telephone contact with the rest of the country after 4:00pm on Saturday. Tribal sources told Daily Times that the Taliban attack was in retaliation to the March 1 military operation in Dandi Saidgai, where more than 40 suspected militants were reported killed. |