Pakistani forces kill 36 militants in border strike

Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships struck a militant hide-out today in a tribal region near the Afghan border, killing about three dozen fighters, including a Chechen commander linked to al-Qaida.

One civilian and a soldier were also reported dead.

The raid came just days before a visit by US President George Bush to Pakistan during which the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban will be on the agenda.

The militants had entered Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region after they carried out an attack inside Afghanistan, said Syed Zaheerul Islam, the top government administrator of the region.

Three helicopter gunships attacked their mountain hide-out in the early morning near Saidgi, a village about nine miles west of Miran Shah, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said.

The assault killed about three dozen militants, said another army official.

The dead included the Chechen commander, identified only by his code name, Imam, the army official said. He died when a helicopter fired on the vehicle he was fleeing in, he said.

“This Chechen commander Imam was behind most of the attacks against Pakistani security forces along the Pakistan-Afghan border,” said the official. “He was an important man for al-Qaida linked militants, and he died with his three bodyguards.”

Most of the dead militants were from Central Asian states and Arab countries.

One of the helicopters hit a bus with gunfire during the raid, killing a female passenger, said the injured driver, Sabbir Khan, from a hospital bed. Te driver said a 20-year-old student on the bus was also injured.

Pakistan – a key US ally in the war against terrorism – has deployed thousands of troops to North Waziristan where they have carried out flush out militants.

Pakistani officials have denied in the past that arrests of militants in Pakistan are timed to coincide with events in the United States. Bush arrives in Pakistan on Saturday from India.

The mountain top hide-out was spotted about a week ago. It was put under surveillance and the presence of Uzbek and Afghan militants and their local supporters was detected, he said.

Last month, Pakistan protested to the US military in Afghanistan over firing that hit the same village, Saidgi, killing eight people.

Security officials have said earlier that hundreds of Arab, Afghan and Central Asian militants – allegedly linked with al-Qaida – are in the North and the adjoining South Waziristan tribal areas.