Seven killed in militant violence in NW Pakistan

Islamabad, July 30: Three paramilitary soldiers and four civilians were killed in militant attacks and exchanges of fire today in Pakistan's troubled North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border, a military spokesman said.

Violence has escalated in Pakistan recently, especially in areas in the northwest like Waziristan, following a military assault on the radical Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the capital Islamabad early this month.

More than 100 people were killed in the assault.

Pro-Taliban militants also announced early this month the scrapping of a peace deal with authorities in the North Waziristan tribal region, adding to concerns about militant violence in the conservative northwest.

''Three paramilitary soldiers were killed when militants attacked a check-post near Miranshah,'' the military spokesman, Major-General Waheed Arshad, told Reuters, referring to the main town of North Waziristan.

In a separate incident, four civilians were killed in a crossfire when militants ambushed a military convoy on a main road linking settled Bannu district with North Waziristan.

Arshad said the four civilians were killed when militants fired on the convoy at a time when normal traffic was also plying the road.

Militants also wounded one paramilitary soldier in an attack in Miranshah, using an improvised explosive device, and Arshad said seven suspects had been arrested.

Authorities were meanwhile searching for an intelligence official kidnapped at the weekend in the Mir Ali town of North Waziristan.

Pakistan's Waziristan region has long been regarded as a safe haven for al Qaeda and Taliban militants sheltered by allies among the local Pashtun tribes.

Pakistani authorities struck a deal with the local militants last September in a bid to isolate the foreign groups and curb cross-border incursions into Afghanistan.

But the militants denounced the agreement early this month and have since launched several attacks on security forces. The army said it killed at least 54 militants in clashes, largely in retaliatory actions, in several days of fighting that erupted on July 21.

Those followed the deaths of at least 13 soldiers in two separate militant attacks between July 18-20 in North Waziristan.

Pakistan has been under pressure from the United States to step up action against Taliban and al Qaeda elements in the border areas, and movement of military and paramilitary convoys in and around Miranshah and Mir Ali towns near the Afghan border has become more regular, while check-posts have been reinforced.

Reuters>