Officials: Pakistani Forces Kill 11 Militants

Posted June 17th, 2011 at 11:30 am (UTC-5)
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Government officials say Pakistani security forces have killed at least 11 militants during clashes in the country's northwest tribal region.

Friday's fighting in the Mamund area of the Bajaur tribal area also killed a local tribesman.

Security forces launched a search operation in the region one day after hundreds of militants reportedly crossed the border from Afghanistan and attacked a village in Bajaur. Five civilians were killed in Thursday's cross-border attack.

Pakistani forces have carried out a number of military operations against Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants in Bajaur.

In Pakistan's southwest Friday, local tribesmen briefly blocked NATO supplies and other traffic on a highway near the Chaman border crossing in Baluchistan province.

Officials say the tribesmen were protesting an incident the day before, in which Afghan forces fired on tribesmen at the border, wounding eight people.

Pakistani officials assured the tribesmen that their grievance would be brought up at the next meeting with Afghan and NATO troops.

Separately on Friday, the Pakistani military released a statement refuting media reports that intelligence officials may have tipped off terrorists about a raid on bomb-making factories. The military called the assertion “false and malicious.”

The New York Times reported last week that U.S. intelligence officials have twice provided information to Pakistan about the specific locations of insurgent bomb-making factories, only to find the sites abandoned before Pakistani troops arrived.

The Pakistani military said Friday that security forces launched operations on four compounds suspected of being used to make bombs. Two were found to be factories and destroyed. The military says information on the other two compounds proved to be incorrect.