Paramilitary troops retreated from the Loyesam area of Bajaur Agency on Saturday, three days after an attempt to recapture the Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border, officials told Daily Times. Loyesam lies on the strategically important road leading towards Peshawar. About 200 Frontier Corps (FC) troops were deployed on Wednesday to set up checkposts near the Afghan border, prompting "tough resistance" from the rebel militants.Troops killed: A press statement from the FC headquarters in Peshawar said six soldiers were killed and 15 injured after the paramilitary troops broke a Taliban siege "in a bold move" and reached Khar, the agency headquarters. It said "the miscreants", a reference to Taliban militants, "suffered heavy losses" in a gunbattle in Dhilai on Friday, when they attacked a security forces convoy moving from Khar to Loyesam. Dhilai is eight kilometres southwest of Khar. Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed the retreat from Loyesam.
The Taliban made a claim to victory, but a senior government official wishing not to be named said the troops had returned to Khar "under a strategy". "We cannot say we have failed," he said.
Taliban victory: Sources close to Taliban said the militants "drove out" the forces. Maulvi Umar, the spokesman for the Taliban, claimed they lost around 10 militants but captured seven paramilitary soldiers and seized ten vehicles and a tank. The claim could not be verified.
Casualty figures from both sides differ, but cannot be verified independently because of limited media access to the conflict zone.