Wana operation: three more troops killed as resistance spreads

At least 15 more soldiers were killed by al Qaeda-linked fighters in Pakistan's wild north-western tribal area, security officials said on Tuesday, as resistance to a massive operation against militants appeared to spread.
In the past two days attackers struck army bases as far as 150 kilometers from the scene of the weeklong assault, reviving fears of a rebellion by the region's fiercely independent Pashtun tribes.
The two deadly ambushes came despite a two-day halt in Pakistan's largest ever offensive against 500 al Qaeda-linked militants and their Pashtun tribal supporters near the town of Wana, the capital of South Waziristan tribal district, 20 kilometers from the Afghan border.
Troops suspended fire for a second consecutive day to allow a second attempt by tribal elders to negotiate the surrender of the militants.
The first attempt on Monday failed to extract any reply from the fighters.
"We sent a delegation on Monday with the demand of the government, but there was no response from the militants," a security official said.
Rockets were fired at dawn on Tuesday on an army camp in the town of Parachinar, 150 kilometers north-east of Wana, killing three soldiers and wounding four, a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
On Monday 12 soldiers were killed when their convoy was ambushed 30 kilometres from Wana.
The assailants have not been identified and it was not immediately clear if they were connected to the bloody siege of hundreds of militants holed up in mud-walled fortresses in the towns of Kalushah and Shin Warzak, 12 kilometers south-west of Wana.
At least 13 civilians have died during the offensive, apparently the victims of stray or misfired rockets and bullets.
The toll of Pakistani troops killed or missing in tribal areas since the assault began a week ago stood at least 49, by far the highest in Pakistan's two-year al Qaeda hunt.
The toll does not include troops believed to have been killed in the main assault at Kalushah and Shin Warzak since March 18, when the attack escalated. Western diplomats estimate the full military toll at between 60 and 100.
Thousands of army and paramilitary troops have pounded the fighters near Wana with attack helicopters and artillery since March 16, killing at least 31 militants according to military figures.