Pakistan army: 30 militants killed as violence spreads

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Helicopter gunships and artillery pounded hide-outs of Taliban militants who hijacked ammunition supply trucks, killing up to 30 suspected rebels as fighting spread Friday in Pakistan's volatile borderlands, the army said. Two paramilitary troops were killed and 10 wounded in the clashes around Dara Adam Khel, a town on a key strategic route linking Pakistan's northwestern frontier with the rest of the country. It has come under the sway of religious extremists in the past year. Friday's violence follows recent intense fighting in South Waziristan, a lawless region to the south regarded as a stronghold for Taliban and al-Qaida. In the past two weeks, militants have stepped up attacks on Pakistani security forces. Hundreds of fighters have launched assaults on remote military forts, drawing comparisons with Taliban tactics against NATO forces in southern Afghanistan.