Pakistani forces kill 29 militants

Pakistani security forces killed 29 militants in two troubled tribal regions near Afghanistan today, officials said, as troops pressed on with operations aimed at flushing out insurgents who have threatened the state.

Eighteen of the alleged militants died early today at a military checkpoint in the Orakzai tribal region.

Lt Col Tahir Akram, a spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said the fighting involved insurgents who arrived from the nearby Khyber region to try to retake the checkpoint in Orakzai where the Taliban have a heavy presence.

He said the security forces repulsed the attack and captured four insurgents. One soldier was wounded.

Government forces had evicted insurgents last week from the same checkpoint in the Baizoti area of Orakzai.

The military began a major operation against insurgents in Orakzai in mid-March. Nearly 300 militants have been reported killed so far.

Later today, Pakistani security forces clashed with militants in Kurram, another segment of the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. The shoot-out left 11 suspected insurgents dead, said Rashid Khan, a local government official.

The US has applauded Pakistan’s efforts to clamp down on the Taliban, and has pushed it to do even more.

American officials say Pakistan must prevent its soil from being used as a sanctuary by militants involved in attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.

Elsewhere in Pakistan’s north-west today, police said they killed two suspected suicide bombers in a shoot-out.

The suspects were on foot in the town of Lakki Marwat and were killed after refusing to surrender to police who tracked them down after getting a tip from intelligence agents, police official Said Nawaz Khan said.