Intel officials: Militants attack military checkpoint in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region

Pakistan: Militants, troops clash in N. Waziristan

MIR ALI, Pakistan — Suspected militants attacked a paramilitary checkpoint Wednesday in a region where Pakistan has resisted U.S. pressure to wage an offensive against Islamist extremists, intelligence officials said. Four insurgents died and one soldier was wounded.

The clash was the second in less than a week in the North Waziristan tribal region, and could undermine truces that the army is believed to have struck with militant groups in the region.

The militants attacked the Esha village checkpoint with guns and rockets, but the security forces repelled the assault, said two local intelligence officials. They provided the casualty figures and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the record.

The suspected militants’ exact identities were not immediately known, but that area of North Waziristan is under the control of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a militant commander who has focused on battling U.S. and NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan and is believed to have a truce with the army.

Most militant groups in North Waziristan are focused on the war across the border, while Pakistan’s army offensives elsewhere in the northwest have been against networks, such as the Pakistani Taliban, that have attacked targets within the country.

The U.S. wants Pakistan to take on the North Waziristan groups, but Islamabad says it does not have the resources to open another front. Critics suspect Pakistan doesn’t want to anger militants it may need to influence affairs in Afghanistan once the U.S. leaves.

Late last week, militants ambushed a Pakistani army convoy traveling in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, killing eight soldiers. Intelligence officials said then that tribesmen had joined local militants to stage the ambush after a 15-year-old boy in the area was allegedly shot to death by an earlier group of traveling soldiers.

The area struck last week is controlled by Sadiq Noor, one of the few Pakistani Taliban commanders known to operate in North Waziristan. The numbers of Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan are believed to be increasing, however, as they flee an army offensive aimed at their main stronghold, South Waziristan.

As with most information given by the government or military out of the tribal regions, independent verification is nearly impossible because access there is severely restricted.

Many of the Pakistani Taliban are also believed to have fled to the Orakzai tribal region, spurring more army action there.

Security forces clashed with militants in two parts of Orakzai on Wednesday, leaving 11 suspected insurgents dead, local official Jahanzeb Khan said.

Also Wednesday, police arrested a member of a banned militant organization who is wanted in connection with a 2002 suicide bombing outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, police official Umer Shahid said.

He said Ehsan Ullah was arrested in a western Karachi neighborhood.

In May 2002, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle outside the consulate, killing 12 Pakistan citizens and destroying the wall around the building.

Associated Press writers Hussain Afzal in Parachinar and Ashraf Khan in Karachi contributed to this report.