PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A daylong clash between militants from
Afghanistan who crossed the border and attacked a Pakistani checkpoint
left 23 troops and 35 insurgents dead, police said Thursday,
underscoring the challenges facing Pakistan as it tries to stamp out
insurgents in its northwest.
The fighting came
as a top Pakistani general said the military plans to stage an
operation against militants in a tribal region that juts deep inside
Afghanistan, but denied media reports of an upcoming offensive in North
Waziristan, the tribal area where the U.S. has been pushing for action.
Pakistan's
northwest border with Afghanistan has for years been a stomping ground
for Islamist extremists, some of whom focus on attacks against Western
forces across the border, and others who prefer to attack the Pakistani
state because of its ties to the United States.
Pakistan
has taken action against the latter groups but they've retained the
ability to strike back, partly because the border is so porous and
insurgents under attack can easily cross from side to side.
The
clash that began Wednesday and wound down Thursday occurred in Shaltalo
town in Upper Dir district. Upper Dir lies just outside the tribal
belt, but it too has witnessed al-Qaida and Taliban militant activity
and been the focus of military offensives.
Police
said some 200 militants crossed over into Pakistan from Afghanistan,
and went after a checkpoint manned by police and paramilitary troops.
At least 23 Pakistani security troops died and three were wounded,
while 35 militants were killed, police official Johar Khan said.
The situation was under control as of noon Thursday, and funerals were being arranged for the dead security forces, he said.
On
Wednesday, army Lt. Gen. Asif Yasin Malik, who oversees military
operations in the tribal areas and other parts of the northwest, said
the Kurram tribal area would be the next target of an offensive after
local leaders there requested it.
Malik said operations would be launched there with the government's backing, but declined to give any more operational details.
Kurram
has seen sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims for years,
but is also home to militants with other aims. According to some
accounts, the Haqqani network, a faction of the Afghan Taliban, was
shifting fighters there from North Waziristan tribal region.
The
Haqqani network is considered one of the biggest threats to U.S. forces
in Afghanistan, partly because its fighters can retreat across the
border to North Waziristan, where they have bases and have been left
alone by the Pakistani army.
The U.S. has
pushed the Pakistani military go after the Haqqanis and other factions
in North Waziristan. The pressure has increased since the American raid
that killed Osama bin Laden in a garrison city in Pakistan's northwest
and deeply embarrassed the army.
But officials
here have resisted, saying their troops are stretched on other fronts,
and that their priority is eliminating insurgents who attack Pakistan,
which the Haqqanis have not done.
Malik said
Wednesday that that position has not changed, and dismissed recent
"media hype" about an imminent offensive in North Waziristan.
"There
is no change in North Waziristan in past months and weeks," Malik said.
"We will undertake an operation when we want to, when it's in the
national interest." AP
