Top News

Four soldiers, 12 militants killed in separate attacks

Published Updated

An anti-Taliban fighter also died in a day of clashes and bomb blasts in the region

The first incident took place in Salarzai town, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Khar, the main city in Bajaur tribal district along the Afghan border when a remote-controlled bomb hit a shop.

The blast killed an anti-Taliban militiaman and wounded three others, an official said.

Among the injured were two other anti-Taliban fighters and a passer-by, senior government official Faaz Mohammad told AFP

The second incident took place when a landmine buried at a roadside hit a vehicle in southwest of Quetta on Sunday, killing three soldiers, a security official said.

"Troops were patrolling in the area. Three soldiers were killed and two were injured. It was a landmine blast," a spokesman for paramilitary Frontier Corps told AFP.

In Sunday's third incident, 12 Taliban militants and a soldier were killed in a clash in Landi Kotal town of Khyber tribal district on the Afghan border and nearest to the Peshawar, security officials told AFP.

A local Taliban commander was among the dead, they said.

"The operation was carried out after an intelligence tip off. During the operation 12 Taliban militants were killed and one soldier embraced martyrdom," a senior security official told AFP in Peshawar.

An intelligence official said troops surrounded a house during the operation and recovered three women and three children after three hours of exchange of fire.

"All those killed inside the house were local Taliban militants," the official said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011