Hundreds of militants in northwest Pakistan attacked and captured a paramilitary fort early yesterday, and 40 militants and seven soldiers were killed and 20 soldiers missing, the military said.
The militants attacked the fort in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border at about midnight on Tuesday and fighting went on for hours, military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said.
"About 200 miscreants attacked from different directions," Abbas said.
"They were able to breach one of the walls of the fort. In the process, there were about 40 militants dead and seven FC personnel were reported killed," he said, referring to the Frontier Corps paramilitary force.
Fifteen soldiers escaped and 20 were missing, he said.
A spokesman for the militants, Maulvi Omar, said they had killed 16 soldiers and captured 12 in the attack. He said only two of his men were killed. "The fort is still in our control," he said.
The Sara Rogha area where the fort is located is a stronghold of Al-Qaida-linked militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, who the government said was behind the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on December 27.
Security forces retaliated with heavy artillery fire throughout yesterday, residents of the area said.
Pakistani forces have been trying to expel foreign militants and subdue their Pakistani allies in the lawless tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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