Sixteen militants were shot dead in the Hangu district on Friday as Taliban attacked a security checkpost in South Waziristan. The gunbattle followed what an International Security Assistance Force statement called "co-ordinated artillery strikes inside Pakistan". "As many as 16 miscreants were killed today in an exchange of fire with security forces," a military statement read on Friday. A doctor at Civil Hospital told Daily Times the hospital had received bodies of 15 suspected militants.
The gunbattle began when the security forces stopped a vehicle they suspected was carrying militants at the Sour Bridge checkpost near the Doaba town. A military statement said two of the militants were suicide bombers "of foreign origin".
Maulvi Nazir: Official sources in Wana said militants loyal to Maulvi Nazir fired rockets at Tiarzah Fort late on Thursday night injuring a paramilitary soldier. Seven militants were reported wounded when government forces retaliated, local administration officials said.
The attack on the fort came hours after NATO forces -- in an operation co-ordinated with Pakistani forces -- "fired multiple artillery rounds into Pakistan," the ISAF statement said. "The Pakistan military confirmed insurgents were preparing to fire rockets at an ISAF base in Paktika province."
"Pakistan (military) officers relayed that all rounds were on target, with no civilian casualties," the ISAF statement received in Peshawar via email said.