Six killed in Pakistani militant violence

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Aug 22 (Reuters) Pro-Taliban militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at a Pakistani military checkpost today killing three soldiers, and two militants were killed in a counter-attack, police said.

At least three grenades hit the checkpost in the attack in the early hours near the town of Bannu in North West Frontier Province, on the main road to the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border.

Two militants were killed during an hour-long battle after the initial attack and a civilian was also killed, police said.

Pakistan has been facing a surge in violence since mid-July, when a peace deal with militants in North Waziristan broke down and commandos stormed a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad.

More than 200 people, most of them police and soldiers, have been killed in blasts and clashes, most in Waziristan and neighbouring parts of the northwest.

Militants attacked two security force checkposts in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, yesterday night but there were no reports of casualties, residents said.

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

Despite Pakistani efforts to clear out foreign militants and subdue their Pakistani allies, US security officials say Waziristan and other border areas are sanctuaries for al Qaeda and the Taliban where they can regroup and plot violence.

REUTERS AK RK1830