ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistani troops have killed at least ten Islamic militants in an operation to clear Taliban forces from a northwestern region near the Afghan border, the military said on Friday.
Authorities launched the offensive in the increasingly troubled district of Hangu on Wednesday after Taliban insurgents occupying the area killed 17 paramilitary troops in an ambush.
Pakistan is under intense pressure from the United States and other Western allies to crack down on Taliban forces on its side of the porous border with Afghanistan.
"Ten militants have been killed and five army troops injured since the launch of the operation," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.
Abbas said the army had cleared the town of Zargari in Hangu and was now sweeping through surrounding areas. Many militants had fled to the adjoining tribal district of Orakzai, which borders Afghanistan.
"The operation will continue until the time the entire area is cleared of militants," the spokesman said.
Troops moved into Hangu, an area previously known for violence between the Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities, after the Taliban surrounded a police station where several militants were being held last week.
Militants on Saturday lured a convoy of paramilitary soldiers into a trap as they headed to a fort outside Hangu city, ambushing them with rocket-propelled grenades and killing 17 troops.
Pakistan is battling a resurgence in Islamist violence after a brief lull brought about by the new government's negotiations with Taliban militants in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, White House hopeful Barack Obama promised to shift the "single-minded" US focus on Iraq to Al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan as part of a sweeping new blueprint for US foreign policy.
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