PESHAWAR: Hundreds of heavily armed militants on Wednesday besieged a remote Pakistani post on the Afghan border, killing at least one policemen as helicopter gunships were deployed, officials said.
Officials said the militants attacked from Afghanistan, targeting the Shaltalu checkpoint in a remote part of northwestern district Dir.
"Militants came from Afghanistan and attacked our forces. The operation is continuing," said Lieutenant General Asif Yasin Malik, the top military commander in the northwestern province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Qazi Jamil ur-Rehman, a senior police officer in the area, said the army was helping police after militants attacked the checkpost on three sides.
"We have sent reinforcements. Army helicopters are also shelling," he said.
"They are in the hundreds and very well armed with light and heavy weapons. The area is remote and surrounded by mountains," Rahim Gul, a police official told AFP by telephone from the nearby Barawal police station.
Initial contact by radio had been lost, he said, but helicopter gunships had been mobilised to try to put down the attack, with around 40 local and tribal police resisting on the ground.
"There was a firefight at the checkpoint and after the fighting we have had no contact with policemen there. We have received just one dead body of a policeman but we fear they have killed several policemen," he told AFP.
"They are resisting and are firing on police. We are facing problems because they are in the mountains. We have sent reinforcements.
"They are using both light and heavy weapons. We are engaging them from the air. Helicopters are shelling them," he added.
Police confirmed the death of one policeman but said seven coffins had been sent to the area, fearing that the death toll could rise.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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