12 killed in Bajaur fighting

KHAR (Agencies) - Troops and tribesmen killed 12 militants in fighting on Monday in troubled Bajaur, as the two sides teamed up to fight extremists in the Taliban and Al-Qaeda hub.

Hundreds of Salarzai tribesmen have sided with the government and raised an army to drive out militants from the region of Bajaur, where the government launched a major offensive in August to defeat the militants.

The tribesmen had gone into Darra and were setting on fire the hideouts used by militants when they were attacked, a security official told AFP.

"Nine tribesmen and three militants, including their commander Abdul Mutlib, were killed in Darra village when Taliban ambushed the tribal force," a security official told AFP.

In another incident, 50 militants attacked a security camp about 6 miles north of Khar overnight, which the troops repulsed, said Fazl Rabi, a local police official. He said militants also attacked paramilitary troops before dawn in the Tang Khata area of Bajaur.

Rabi and another government official counted a total of 15 militants killed and more than a dozen wounded in overnight clashes.

Two intelligence officials said three troops died in fighting in the past two days. They asked for anonymity because they were not authorised to talk on the record to media.

Meanwhile, artillery fire directed at suspected militant hideouts in an area called Badali struck two houses and killed two civilians, said Niazur Rehman, a local resident.

Staff Reporter from Peshawar adds: The high-ups of security forces Monday claimed to have targeted three explosive-laden vehicles on the boundaries between narrow tribal strip of Dara Adam Khel and Aurakzai.

All the three vehicles were destroyed and several on board including two suicide bombers were killed, the officials informed. The officials claimed that suicide bombers were making preparations for terrorist attacks against important people on the eve of Eidul Fitr. The officials have yet to determine the identity of the targeted militants including the suicide bombers.

APP adds: The security forces lifted curfew in Swat district on the eve of Eid to facilitate the people for shopping, a spokesman of ISPR Swat told APP. The curfew has been lifted throughout the district on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr while electricity is being supplied to Mingora city at regular intervals, he said when asked.

But major parts of the district were still plunged into darkness, as the supply of electricity could still not be restored.