Border ambush kills 15 soldiers

FIFTEEN soldiers were killed and 15 injured when a Pakistani army convoy heading toward a counter- terrorism sweep against al-Qaida militants near the Afghan border was ambushed, officials said yesterday.

The attackers fired rockets that hit at least six army trucks in the ambush near Sarwakai, about 30 miles east of Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal region.

Some of the trucks were carrying petrol and were destroyed by fire in the attack, a government official in Sarwakai said.