Fourteen dead in Pakistani border clashes

WANA, Pakistan, Aug 16 (Reuters) Ten Islamist militants and four Pakistani soldiers were killed in clashes in the Waziristan region today, the latest in spiralling violence in the tribal area near the Afghan border.

Militants attacked a convoy of security forces at a check-post in South Waziristan today, about 50 km (30 miles) east of region's main town of Wana.

''Security forces retaliated and I have reports that 10 militants were killed and about a dozen wounded,'' said military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad. Two soldiers were killed and 10 wounded.

''Firing is still going on,'' he said.

Hours earlier, two soldiers were killed and four wounded when a roadside bomb blew up their vehicle in neighbouring North Waziristan.

In another attack, a pro-government tribal elder and his driver were killed by a roadside bomb in Bajaur, a border region to the northeast of Waziristan.

Violence has surged in Pakistani lawless tribal areas, mainly in Waziristan, since last month when militants said they were abandoning a 10-month-old pact that the government had hoped would end attacks on security forces and cross-border raids on foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Many al Qaeda and Taliban members took refuge in Waziristan and other remote, rugged regions on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border after U.S. and Afghan opposition forces defeated the Taliban government in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Pakistan has battled the militants and tried to isolate foreign al Qaeda members with deals aimed at strengthening traditional ethic Pashtun tribal power structures.

But US security officials say North Waziristan and other border regions remain a hotbed of militancy where al Qaeda and the Taliban plot violence.

Militants launched a wave of attacks across the country, mainly on soldiers and policemen, after an army assault on Islamabad's Red Mosque, a militant stronghold, last month.

REUTERS SBC PM2033