Army moves into Waziristan, kills 6 Taliban

[Naveed Yaseen]

TANK: Six suspected Taliban were killed on Tuesday in South Waziristan after helicopter gunships were sent in to repulse an attack on a paramilitary force fort, officials said.

The army sent in its helicopters after Taliban fired rockets at a paramilitary force fort in Siblatoi town, 60 kilometres east of Wana in South Waziristan, military sources told Daily Times.

The clash follows build-up of army and Taliban forces in Mehsud areas of South Waziristan, giving rise to speculations that fresh action against local Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud is on the cards.

Chief military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas dismissed reports that a military operation was launched, saying the counter-attack was a response to the Taliban’s attack on the fort.

Some 800 soldiers, backed by tanks and artillery, had moved into South Waziristan’s Mehsud areas from Jandola, local political administration said.

Also on Tuesday, security forces arrested six persons from a seminary where a military convoy was attacked, local leaders of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl said.

Meanwhile, one roadside bomb targeted a police van patrolling in Tank district. “At least two policemen were wounded when their vehicle was hit by a remote-controlled device planted along the roadside in Tank,” a local police official said. staff report/agencies

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg1_5