Pakistan forces kill 10 Taliban militants in NW

The Pakistani military says it has killed at least 10 Taliban militants that attempted to intrude into Pakistan’s troubled northwestern tribal region from neighboring Afghanistan.

A Sunday statement released by a military spokesman said Pakistani troops confronted the Taliban elements in the Shumkari area of the Mohmand tribal district near the Afghan border while the latter were attempting to “sneak into Pakistan territory.”

“At about 0130 hours (Saturday night) a group of about 10-15 terrorists tried to sneak into Pakistan territory. Pakistan troops observed and surrounded them. Intense exchange of fire took place for about an hour,” added the statement.

Confirming the operation, a local administration authority said the bodies of the armed militants were later transferred to a local hospital for autopsy.

Pakistani military forces have tightened their control on the border with Afghanistan and have launched a number of operations in the restive tribal areas since last year to root out the Taliban-linked militants.

Pakistan’s army intensified its military operations after pro-Taliban elements killed over 150 people, most of them children, in an armed assault on a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar in December 2014.

The militant group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out in retaliation for an ongoing Pakistani military offensive against the militants in the country’s tribal belt.

Since 2001, when the Pakistani government entered an alliance with the US in its so-called war on terror, thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks in the country.

MFB/HJL/SS

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