Pakistani helicopter gunships and artillery pounded militant positions on Sunday in tribal area bordering Afghanistan after coming under attack, residents and officials said.The military said they fired artillery after being fired upon in Ladha village of South Waziristan. Chief Military Spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said three soldiers were injured when militants fired rockets on three helicopters that had gone into the area with supplies.
The strikes came a day after authorities said they had arrested a 15-year-old boy in northwestern Pakistan alleged to have been involved in the December 27 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was critical of rising Islamic extremism in the country.
Residents however said that shells fired from six helicopter gunships killed two people and left seven others wounded, but officials did not confirm the civilian deaths.
“Two civilians were killed and five others wounded in the attacks near the border close to the towns of Ladha and Makin,” said Fazal Subhan, a Makin resident. Military Spokesman Major General Abbas said there were no reports of casualties in the operations. The military said Saturday that troops captured 50 Islamist militants in an operation in the rugged Chaghmalai and Ladha areas of South Waziristan.
The clashes started after hundreds of heavily armed militants overran a Pakistani paramilitary fort on Wednesday, killing seven soldiers and leaving another 15 troops missing, presumed kidnapped. Fighting in South Waziristan in recent days has killed more than 100 soldiers and militants.