Militants launched new attacks on border forts on Tuesday, leaving seven troops and 37 militants' dead. The attacks in the rugged belt of mountains bordering Afghanistan underlined growing insecurity across the nuclear-armed nation and came just before a top US commander flew in for talks on tackling the rebels.
Fighting has escalated sharply since Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last month, an attack blamed on an al Qaeda-linked tribal warlord based in the tribal region. In Paris for the second leg of a European tour aimed at shoring up his battered image, Musharraf dismissed fears that Pakistan could slip into al Qaeda's hands, saying there was a "zero percent chance" of a take-over.
The only way for that to happen, he said, would be if al Qaeda or the Taliban "defeated the Pakistani army entirely" or if extremist religious groups won next month's elections. Musharraf has been keen to bolster his credibility as a pivotal ally in the fight against terrorism, which has garnered Pakistan more than 10 billion dollars in US aid since September 11, 2001.
Militants on Tuesday tried to raid a fort and observation post at Ladha in South Waziristan, sparking a fierce four-hour gunbattle, chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.
"It was an intense attack," Abbas said, adding that five soldiers were killed and seven injured. He later said 37 militants were also confirmed dead. Two civilians were killed and five wounded when jets later pounded suspected militant hideouts in Ladha, said injured resident Dildar Khan, who was brought to a hospital in neighbouring North Waziristan. A clash also erupted in North Waziristan's Razmak town, near Ladha, in which two security personnel were killed and six injured, Abbas said. Abbas denied the army was planning an offensive against Baitullah Mehsud.