Militants kill 7 Pakistani troopers in ambush

Peshawar (Pakistan), Apr 20: Pro-Taliban militants killed at least seven Pakistani paramilitary troopers and wounded 26 in an ambush today in a troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

Intelligence officials said five militants were believed to have been killed in a counter-attack after the military convoy the troopers were travelling in came under fire as it passed through a village in the mountains near Miranshah, the main town of the North Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan.

''Seven security personnel were martyred and 26 wounded,'' interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told Reuters.

Residents said they saw helicopter gunships in the area after the ambush, and intelligence officials said five militants were killed but the bodies were carried away by their comrades.

Waziristan has been the scene of fierce battles between Islamist militants and security forces over the past two years.

More than 250 people have been killed in clashes in recent weeks.

Many al Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies fled to Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt after they were chased out of Afghanistan by U.S.-backed forces in 2001.

REUTERS