Five troops were injured and 16 went missing on Thursday after militants targeted army convoys in the tribal areas near the Afghan border, security officials said. A dozen militants were also killed in a follow-up operation by the Pakistan Army. "The army killed up to a dozen militants in North Waziristan, and destroyed two compounds after the five soldiers were injured by a roadside bomb," said ISPR Director General Major General Waheed Arshad. In South Waziristan, security forces launched a search mission for the 16 missing paramilitary troops amid reports that suspected militants had kidnapped them, officials said. "We have not heard from 16 paramilitary soldiers who this morning left for Sararogha village in South Waziristan in their vehicles," a security official told AFP. Earlier, troops travelling in another convoy between Miranshah and nearby Mir Ali had a narrow escape when a bomb exploded minutes after it passed by.
That incident followed an early morning rocket attack on a military base in Miranshah, which triggered retaliatory artillery fire by troops. No casualties were reported. "Militants lobbed five rockets, they all missed the target," the official said, adding that one landed near the helipad outside the army base but caused no damage. To the west of Miranshah, eight Pakistani helicopter gunships fired rockets at suspected militant hideouts in the village of Daigan, but there were no casualties, security officials said. A plan to blow up a police station in Hangu with rocket attack by unidentified persons was foiled the other day.