Fighting flares up across tribal belt

KHAR (Agencies) - Troops Wednesday killed 49 militants, including foreign fighters, near the troubled Afghan border amid an upsurge in Taliban-inspired bloodshed, security officials said.

Military spokesman Maj Murad Khan said troops poured gun and artillery fire onto militants holed up in a health centre in the Bajaur region, a hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, adding that up to 30 militants were killed and that they included several foreigners.

He didn’t identify the casualties further. He said no troops were hurt.

“Security forces killed 25-30 militants, including some important commanders and foreigners in Bajaur’s Raghan region,” a security official told AFP.