Security forces countered yet another cross-border attack on a check post in Dir, killing up to six militants in retaliatory fire. Officials said that dozens of armed militants crossed into Pakistani territory from Afghanistan on Friday and attacked a security check post in the Karkay area. However, the assault was foiled by alert troops and six militants were killed, while the remaining escaped, officials added. With the advent of summer, militants holed up in Afghanistan have started launching attacks on Pakistani forces. Officials say militants loyal to hardliner Mullah Fazlullah, the militant commander who fled after forces quashed an uprising in Swat valley, is behind the fresh wave of attacks.
On Wednesday, security forces thwarted a similar cross-border attack and claimed killing seven insurgents. Last Friday, Taliban stormed a security check post and kidnapped 17 Pakistani soldiers. Five days later, the militants released a video showing severed heads of the abducted soldiers. The beheading, as claimed by the Taliban, took place on Sunday. The Foreign Ministry summoned the deputy head of the Afghan mission to lodge a formal protest against “the intrusion of militants from the Afghan side into Pakistani territory”, officials said. The Afghan diplomat was informed that “the government of Afghanistan should take appropriate measures to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents in the future”, it said
