Pakistan military says 19 militants, 7
soldiers killed in clash
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[June 08, 2015]
By Jibran Ahmed & Saud Mehsud
PESHAWAR/DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan
(Reuters) - At least 19 Islamist militants and seven Pakistani soldiers
were killed in a fierce gun battle early on Monday near Dattakhel, a
town close to the Afghan border, military officials and militants said.
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According to security officials, seven Pakistani soldiers were
killed when one of the insurgents blew himself up as they sought to
hunt down militants in North Waziristan, an area where clashes are
common.
Tribal sources there said the militants attacked a security
checkpoint in Dattakhel that led to a heavy fighting.
Sources within the Taliban militant movement, whose fighters often
hide out near the frontier with Afghanistan, said only one militant
was killed and three were wounded, but the Pakistani military said
19 insurgents died in the clash.
"Nineteen terrorists were killed, including five of their
commanders, in an intense exchange of fire with security forces last
night in an un-cleared pocket along the North Waziristan- Afghan
border," the army said in a statement.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jun/08/images/ads/current/gives_you_more_bch_040314.png) It added that one militant exploded a suicide vest as he was being
surrounded, killing seven soldiers. Although militants and security
forces clash almost daily in tribal areas, the death toll in
Monday's incident was unusually high.
Last June, Pakistan launched a major offensive against militants in
North Waziristan, leading to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing
villages and towns and seeking shelter away from the fighting.
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Pakistani military authorities said recently that they had cleared
80 per cent of tribal areas held by the militants.
The campaign against insurgents hiding in remote areas has been led
mainly by Pakistani bombing raids and U.S. drone attacks.
Local sources said that Dattakhel and the nearby Shawal Valley were
still under the control of militants, however, and the army has yet
to launch a major ground offensive in a region where the terrain is
particularly hostile.
(Additional reporting by Hafiz Wazir; Writing by Syed Raza Hassan;
Editing by Mike Collett-White)
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