At least 10 soldiers were killed and 10 more went missing in two separate attacks by Taliban militants in Mohmand Agency, officials said on Wednesday. A spokesman for Frontier Corps, Fazal-ur-Rehman, said "a security vehicle hit a landmine and our eight soldiers were martyred and two were injured. The blast completely destroyed the vehicle," the spokesman said.
The explosion came hours after dozens of Taliban fighters ambushed a convoy of 52 paramilitary troops in the Baezai area of the same district. "Our two soldiers were martyred and two were injured in the attack," said local administration official Roshan Khan. "Ten soldiers are missing. We are trying to locate them." An intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the militants initially seized 12 soldiers. "They beheaded two of them and dumped their bodies, while they took the rest with them," he added.
Following the raid, helicopter gunships pounded Taliban hideouts in the district, killing at least 10 militants, Khan said. A military statement said on Wednesday that seven "terrorists" were killed during an "intense exchange of fire" at a newly established checkpost in the Makeen area of the district. Two soldiers were also injured.
The military has recently regained control of Makeen, the hometown of Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who died in a US drone attack in early August. "Security forces are in the process of clearing Makeen and expanding their area of domination," said the army statement. A large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered during clearance operations.
The latest casualties reported by the army take the death toll in the three-week offensive in South Waziristan to 502 on the part of the Taliban, as against the 46 soldiers killed in the fighting. The figures cannot be independently confirmed since South Waziristan is blocked to journalists.
Separately, three militants died and many were injured in various security actions in Khyber, another tribal district that also borders Afghanistan, said Fazal-ur-Rehman. He said that the security forces destroyed a Taliban mortar position along with a large quantity of ammunition in the district.
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