A clash between Pakistani troops and militants yesterday in the troubled northwest left five militants dead and a soldier martyred, the military said.
The insurgents were liquidated in the North Waziristan tribal district, where the military has been mounting an offensive against terrorists strongholds since June.
“During a search operation five terrorists were killed in Datta Khel. One soldiers also embraced martyrdom,” Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said in a statement issued here.
Pakistani jets and artillery began hitting rebel targets in North Waziristan in mid-June and ground forces moved in on June 30 last year.
For the last near nine months the army has been waging a major campaign against strongholds of Taliban and other militants in the North Waziristan tribal area, which lies close to Peshawar.
The military has heralded the success of the operation, which it says has killed more than 2,000 militants, though the precise number and identity of those killed cannot be verified independently since independent media sources do not have access to the highly volatile area.
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Pakistan has suffered a rising tide of sectarian violence in recent years, most of it perpetrated by hardline Sunni Muslim groups against minority Shiite Muslims, who make up around a fifth of the population.-
