Around 15 militants were killed by gunship helicopters moments after local Taliban ambushed a military convoy killing six soldiers and wounding 20 others, an army spokesman said on Wednesday. “Six troops were martyred in the ambush while 20 regular and paramilitary troops were injured,” Maj Gen Waheed Arshad told Daily Times.The convoy was en route from Miranshah to Razmak, and was attacked near the Asadkhel area, 40 kilometres south of Miranshah, agency headquarters of North Waziristan, local security officials said. “Fifteen militants were killed when the troops retaliated and gunship helicopters pounded suspected militant hideouts on hilltops,” Waheed said.
The Wednesday casualties were the highest since the army kicked out militants from Swat. “First a bomb planted on the roadside exploded when the convoy was passing through the area. After that, militants hiding on both sides of the road fired rockets at them,” a local official told AFP on condition of anonymity. There was no official word about reports that four troops succumbed to their injuries taking the death toll to 10, according to staff report.
Maj Gen Arshad Waheed said security forces backed by gunship helicopters spotted the fleeing militants and opened fire, killing 15 of them in “immediate retaliation”, AP reported.
Air cover: Waheed said military convoys were provided air cover, and in Wednesday ambush the gunship helicopters covering the convoy attacked the militants, staff report continues.
Six troops injured: Also, six soldiers were wounded in separate roadside bomb blasts targeting military convoys in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan. Two soldiers were injured when their convoy was attacked near the Alexander Fort with an improvised explosive device. The vehicle they were travelling in was also damaged in the blast.
Four soldiers were wounded when a remote-controlled bomb exploded as their convoy was heading to Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan region, a local official told AFP. They were reported to be in serious condition. He said another crudely made bomb exploded harmlessly near a checkpost on the outskirts of Miranshah, while soldiers also defused two other bombs in the same region.