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7 Pakistan soldiers die in attack

B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD: At least seven soldiers of Pakistan's paramilitary and 14 suspected militants were killed early on Tuesday in the trouble torn Waziristan tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

According to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the killings resulted during a firefight between the forces and the "miscreants" at a checkpoint in Miranshah.

The skirmish was one of the biggest in the last few months. The region has been the hotbed of guerilla war for nearly two years now. Pakistan has deployed over 75000 troops along the border to chase suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters sheltered there.

Several attempts by the Government to secure peaceful surrender of the militants and their local patrons have failed. Pakistan has been under pressure from the U.S. led coalition forces operating in Afghanistan to take on the militants in the belt.

Presence of the militants, fleeing from Afghanistan, has been the cause of repeated diplomatic rows between Kabul and Islamabad.

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