Three Pakistan troops killed in militant attacks

Miranshah (Pakistan), Apr 5: Three Pakistani paramilitary troops were killed and three injured in two attacks by pro-Taliban militants in a restive tribal region near the Afghan border, intelligence officials said today.

The militants fired rockets late last night on two paramilitary Frontier Corps posts near Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan region.

Tensions have been running high there since last month's fierce clashes in which around 200 tribesmen were killed. The tribesmen were answering a call to arms by militant Muslim clerics following a special forces attack on an al Qaeda camp.

Intelligence officials said Frontier Corps forces returned fire after last night's attacks, but their assailants escaped in the dark.

On Monday, five people were killed in a landmine explosion and two militants died in a clash with security forces in the area.

President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, last month warned foreign militants hiding in the tribal region to leave Pakistan or face annihilation.

A large number of al Qaeda remnants and Taliban fled to Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt after U.S.-led forces toppled the radical Taliban regime in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York.

Reuters