Pak troops kill 10 militants in tribal area: officials

Pakistani troops pounded militant hideouts in a tribal region near the Afghan border on Wednesday, killing at least 10 rebels with links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, officials said.
The attacks took place in the Bajaur tribal district, where Pakistani security forces launched a major offensive against Islamic fighters in August.
‘Troops fired artillery and mortars onto hideouts of rebels in Loisam, Rashakai, Chinar and Babra areas, killing 10 militants and wounding eight others,’ a security official told AFP.
There was no way to independently verify the toll. The official also said a curfew was imposed Wednesday in Khar, the main town in Bajaur, as part of the ongoing military operation.
All shops and offices were closed, the roads were empty, and all residents were ordered to remain indoors. The military said in late September that the fighting in Bajaur was some of the heaviest since Pakistan joined the US-led ‘war on terror.’
It said more than 1,000 rebel fighters have been killed since it launched the offensive, including al-Qaeda’s operational commander in the region, Egyptian Abu Saeed Al-Masri.
Pakistan’s tribal regions have been wracked by violence since thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels fled to the country after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Violence linked to Pakistan’s role in the ‘war on terror’ has claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people in suicide and bomb attacks in the past year.