At least 300 militants crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan and attacked a Pakistani checkpost, government and intelligence officials said on Monday, the sixth cross-border attack in a month that has raised tensions between the neighbours.
Pakistani soldier Lance Naik Said Mohammad was killed and Constable Badshah Rehman was wounded in the late Sunday attack in Bajaur Agency, intelligence officials said. At least four militants were also killed in the fighting, they said. Pakistan says 56 members of the security forces have been killed and 81 wounded in a series of militant attacks from Afghanistan over the past month.
Villagers from Kitkot, where the attack took place, told Reuters that militants used rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and AK-47 assault rifles. “Heavy firing was going on, and it lasted for several hours,” tribal elder Juma Gul said. One government official said the militants were driven back into Afghanistan by Pakistani security forces. There were no civilian casualties, he added.
4 INJURED IN MORTAR ATTACK:
In North Waziristan, meanwhile, officials said four people were wounded by a mortar attack from Afghanistan, AFP reported. Doctor Mubarak Khan said two children aged eight and 13 were among the wounded. Officials said the shell hit Bangedar village in the Ghulam Khan district, and had been fired from the eastern Afghan province of Khost.
