15 killed in Pakistan fighting

ISLAMABAD - At least five soldiers and 10 Taliban militants were killed Monday in two separate incidents of violence in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region that borders Afghanistan, security officials said.

A roadside bomb struck a military convoy near Wana, the main town in the Taliban heartland of South Waziristan tribal district.

“Two soldiers died on the spot when their vehicle was blown up by an explosive device planted along the road while three succumbed to their injuries at the hospital later on,” an intelligence official said on the condition of anonymity.

Troops were moving to Wana from the nearby northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan to expel militants from a local telephone exchange.

More than 7,000 phone lines have gone out of service in the district since the Taliban fighters took control of the exchange several days ago.

Government forces targeted militant positions with artillery fire after the roadside bombing, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Al Qaeda and Taliban militants use the tribal district as a launching pad for attacks on foreign troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Separately, helicopter gunships pounded the positions of Islamic militants in Khyber tribal district, killing 10 fighters.

The security action is the part of a week-long offensive that was launched after a suicide bomber killed 22 security personnel.

Five militant hideouts and one training centre were also destroyed in the assault Monday in the remote Tirah valley of the district, according to a press statement issued by the paramilitary Frontier Corps.

The target of the operation is a pro-Taliban militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, which is believed to be involved in several attacks on security forces, civilian killings and kidnappings for ransom.

More than 130 Islamic militants have been killed in the fighting so far, according to the government claims.