Eleven personnel of the Frontier Corps and over a score terrorists were killed in clashes in the Mohmand tribal agency after the Taliban launched simultaneous attacks on five checkpoints of the paramilitary force.
The administration and Taliban disputed the casualties on either side in the clashes that went on for hours. The Army pressed in helicopters to bomb Taliban hideouts in the area adjoining Afghanistan and sandwiched between Bajaur and Khyber agencies. While security personnel claim to have sanitised Bajaur in earlier operations, Khyber had witnessed drone attacks only last week.
According to AFP, the Taliban spokesman for Mohmand had called its office and claimed to have taken two security personnel hostage but this was denied by officials. Earlier this month, suicide bombers had struck at the administrative headquarters of the tribal agency; killing 43 people and wounding over 60.
Reuters report from Mohmand:
A militant spokesman confirmed the attacks but disputed the official death toll, saying only two of their fighters were killed and three wounded.
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in the southwestern province of Balochistan, killing a policeman and wounding seven, officials said.
In another incident, in the northwestern city of Peshawar, a blast outside a school wounded a teacher and three children, police said.
