Thirty-five militants and two soldiers have been killed in heavy fighting in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, the army said on Monday. ISPR Director General Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP that at least 30 of the rebels had died in a series of clashes in the North Waziristan tribal agency since late Sunday night. Another five insurgents were killed after rebels attacked a check post in the same district on Monday evening with rockets and guns, Arshad said, adding that the battle was continuing. Two soldiers had been killed and another 12 injured in the violence over the past 24 hours, he added, but gave no further details.
The latest clashes in the lawless North Waziristan tribal agency bordering Afghanistan came as pro-Taliban groups there warned Pakistani soldiers to quit fighting or face new suicide attacks. A wave of suicide attacks has claimed over 200 lives in Pakistan since President Pervez Musharraf ordered a raid on Lal Masjid in Islamabad on July 10-11 and vowed to uproot extremism. Washington has intensified pressure on Pakistan to step up military action, warning it may launch strikes there – comments Pakistan called “irresponsible and dangerous.” US national intelligence chief Mike McConnell earlier said he believed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was alive and sheltering in the frontier zone, a charged Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam denied on Monday.