Six people were killed in an overnight clash between more than a
hundred Islamist militants and security forces in Pakistan's
northwestern Peshawar city, police said on Friday.
Police and
paramilitary troops retaliated after the militants attacked a checkpoint
on the outskirts of the city, leaving three militants and three
security officials dead.
"More than 100 militants attacked a
checkpost 10 kilometres west of Peshawar at midnight and injured nine
security persons," Muhammad Yamin Khan, a senior police official told
AFP.
"We repelled the attack and killed three militants. The fight
continued for more than two hours and three security persons later died
in hospital," he said.
Another senior police official Imtiaz Altaf confirmed the clash and number of casualties.
Pakistan's
army has previously launched a series of offensives targeting
Lashkar-e-Islam, a Taliban-allied militant group waging a local
insurgency.
Pakistan's seven tribal districts on the Afghan border
are rife with homegrown insurgents, and are strongholds of Taliban and
Al-Qaeda operatives. AFP
