Pakistan says 30 militants killed in fighting close to Afghan border
By APFriday, January 29, 2010
Official: 30 militants killed in Pakistan
KHAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani government official says security forces have killed 30 militants in the past 72 hours in clashes near the Afghan border.
Abdul Kabir said fighting was continuing Friday in the Bajur region. He said several soldiers have been injured.
The Pakistan army launched a major operation in Bajur in 2008 that it claimed had cleared the area of militants, but clashes have continued since then.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A bomb in northwest Pakistan destroyed a truck carrying oil to NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan on Friday, while gunmen elsewhere in the country killed three Shiite Muslims on their way to visit holy sites in Iraq.
No one was wounded in the attack on the supply truck in the fabled Khyber Pass, government official Javed Khan said.
A large portion of non-lethal supplies for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan are trucked through Pakistan. Militants occasionally attack the trucks, but the strikes have had little impact on operations in Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s overall security situation has deteriorated over the past decade as militants inspired by the Taliban in Afghanistan have staged attacks and criminality also has risen.
Friday’s attack on the Shiite Muslim Pakistanis in Baluchistan province appeared to be sectarian-driven.
Local police official Mohammad Ayaz said the group of travelers had come to Quetta city from the southern city of Karachi, and had hoped to travel across Iran to Iraq. The group was waiting in a bus Friday afternoon when the gunmen appeared on motorbikes and opened fire.
Two men and one woman were killed, while three other people were wounded, Ayaz said.
Police did not accuse any particular militant group Friday, but Quetta has in the past witnessed violence against Shiite Muslims. The attacks are often blamed on Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim extremist group with ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country, and most of its Shiite and Sunni residents live in harmony. However, extremists from both sects occasionally target one another’s leaders.
