Militants launch rocket attack on Pakistan border

Suspected Islamic militants fired rockets at security forces in a restive Pakistani border region today and troops returned fire, an official said.

No soldiers were reported injured. It was not known if the attackers suffered any casualties.

Three rockets landed near a paramilitary troop base in Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal region where security forces and militants have been fighting in recent weeks, an intelligence official in Wana said.

Four more rockets landed near an army post in nearby Karwan Manza village, where suspected foreign militants and their local supporters attacked security forces, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Pakistani officials say hundreds of Arabs, Central Asians and Afghan militants, believed to be linked with al-Qaida, are hiding in South Waziristan.

In the latest clash, troops fired artillery and mortars in direction the rockets came from, said the official in Wana.

Army officials could not immediately confirm the rocket attacks, which came a day after a roadside bomb exploded near a jeep carrying troops. It killed a 10-year-old boy and wounded three soldiers and several civilians in North Waziristan, another tribal region.

Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said “miscreants” planted the bomb to attack the troops, but shrapnel killed the boy, who was standing nearby.

Also yesterday, a US helicopter violated Pakistan’s air space by flying into North Waziristan from Afghanistan, Sultan said. The aircraft did not land, he said.

Pakistan is a key ally of the US in its war on terror and has provided some of its air bases to the US-led coalition forces for logistical support in Afghanistan. But Islamabad insists that US forces must not otherwise operate from its territory.

Also in South Waziristan, local tribesmen and security forces have mounted a hunt for Abdullah Mehsud, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner, who is wanted for the kidnapping of two Chinese citizens and for attacks against troops in the area.