KHAR, PAKISTAN - About 150 Islamist militants attacked five security posts Friday in an unusually large and coordinated assault close to the Afghan border, sparking hours of fighting that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers and 24 insurgents, officials said.
Pakistani insurgents kill 11 soldiers in five coordinated attacks
December 25, 2010 at 1:33AM
Al-Qaida and Taliban militants often stage attacks in northwest Pakistan, but the overnight assaults were notable for their size and the level of planning needed. They underlined that insurgents in the tribal areas along the frontier retain significant capabilities despite military offensives in the region.
It is also rare for authorities to sustain -- or admit to sustaining -- such heavy casualties.
The top government official in the region, Amjad Ali Khan, said 11 soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in the fighting.
The troops called in helicopter gunships to help push back the militants, said Maj. Fazl Ur Rehman, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps security force. The fighting ended by morning.
What little information the army gives out about its operations in the tribal regions is nearly impossible to verify independently because access is restricted and the conflict zones are dangerous. The army says 2,500 of its soldiers have been killed by Islamist militants there since 2001.
It claims to have retaken large areas from the insurgents, but attacks have continued and the state has had trouble holding ground. The Mohmand region has been a trouble spot for years and the focus of multiple army operations. Its border location makes it a valuable transit point for insurgents heading for Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces are fighting a related insurgency.
Also Friday, a remote-controlled bomb rigged to a bike exploded on the outskirts of Quetta in southwestern Pakistan, killing a police officer and wounding five more, police official Hamid Shakil said. Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, where a long-running insurgent movement that wants greater autonomy for the region has at times targeted security officials.
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In interviews with the Star Tribune, Ryan described life before and after the Russian invasion in the country, where she’s worked to secure the border and help refugees flee war-torn areas.
