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Islamabad: Pakistani forces killed up to 90 militants in two battles yesterday in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, the military said.
The clashes came two days after hundreds of militants overran a paramilitary fort in another part of South Waziristan, dealing the military a setback in its efforts to defeat the Al Qaida-linked militants.
In one incident yesterday, government forces attacked a large number of militants who had gathered to attack another fort in the region, at Ladha, killing 50 to 60 of them. The rest dispersed, said military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas.
"The miscreants, these terrorists, wanted to probably attack another fort and they were gathering there. Therefore, the security forces took action in retaliation," Abbas said.
Retaliation
Security forces used artillery and mortars to attack the militants and suffered no casualties, he said.
In the second incident, militants ambushed a convoy and 20 to 30 of them were killed when security forces fought back, he said.
"We had a convoy passing through Chaghmalai and these miscreants started firing on the convoy. The security forces retaliated and there was a firefight for an hour or two and then the security forces cleared the area," he said.
Four members of the security forces were wounded in the second clash, he said.
Both clashes were in areas of South Waziristan where an Al Qaida-linked militant leader, Baitullah Mehsud, operates.
Peshawar (AFP) Pakistani security officials said yesterday they believed militants from a Sunni extremist group linked to Al Qaida were behind a suicide attack on a Shiite mosque that killed 10 people.
The use of a gun and then a suicide blast in Thursday's attack in the northwestern border city of Peshawar is the signature method of the banned sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, they said.
"The bomber first fired some shots and then blew himself up. The modus operandi is the hallmark of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and it shows they have plans to stoke up sectarian hatred," said a senior Peshawar-based security official.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has strong links to Osama Bin Laden's network and its members have been convicted of involvement in the 2002 murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl and of several attempts to kill President Musharraf.
Security officials said the group had forged close ties with tribal warlord Baitullah Mehsud, who the government accuses of being an Al Qaida leader and of masterminding the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
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