Posted on 07/31/2007 8:09:56 AM PDT by tobyhill
MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan Heavy Fighting — Government troops backed by helicopter gunships repelled an attack on a military checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing up to 12 militants, an army spokesman said.
Up to 40 militants attacked the checkpoint near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal district, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said.
"Our forces retaliated and returned fire, and destroyed their vehicles," Arshad said. "According to the reports I have received, between 10 to 12 miscreants were killed."
No soldiers were killed or wounded in the midmorning attack, he said.
Violence has surged across Pakistan since a bloody military raid three weeks ago to oust radical clerics and their followers from Islamabad's Red Mosque.
Most of the violence has been in the tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan. More than 300 people have died since July 3.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, has come under increasing pressure from Washington to do more to combat Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in the tribal zone.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Miscreants, LOL. I love that word.
And about 12,000 to go.
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