Gunfight with the Taliban, Six Pakistani Soldiers Killed

JAKARTA - Six Pakistani soldiers were killed in clashes with the Pakistani branch of the Taliban in the troubled border region near Afghanistan.

The attack is the latest incident in a spike in violence in the difficult border region, a conflict zone also affected by the Baloch separatist insurgency.

"An exchange of fire occurred between the terrorists and our troops," the army said in a statement describing the incident in North Waziristan, quoted by The National News May 5.

North Waziristan is one of Pakistan's governorates that has suffered the brunt of decades of conflict in Afghanistan, but since 2007, a homegrown militant movement has emerged that has become the epicenter of violence at the hands of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e- Pakistani Taliban (TTP).

Three of the terrorists died when soldiers attacked them, the army said, adding they were combing the area to determine if any other attackers were hiding.

The incident came within one week of attacks carried out by the militants, including an attack by a suicide bomber who rammed his car into a military base outside Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, which killed three soldiers.

In 2017, the army tried to stamp out the movement, sending tens of thousands of troops into the mountainous area, many of which are barely accessible by road.

Nearly 900 soldiers and, according to army estimates, 2,000 Taliban were killed in the two years of fighting.

The latest bloodshed comes after Pakistan announced fresh attacks on militants as terror attacks escalated, including a mosque bombing that killed more than 100 people in February.

Islamabad says the militants have secured safe havens in Afghanistan to plan and carry out the attacks, a charge Kabul denies.

It is understood that Amir Khan Muttaqi, foreign minister of the Afghan Taliban government, will arrive in Islamabad on Friday for meetings with his Pakistani and Chinese counterparts.

The TTP group is behind most of the attacks on the state, which have become more frequent since last year after they lifted a ceasefire and peace talks with the government in Islamabad collapsed.

The government says the peace talks have allowed the release of hundreds of militants and their leaders from prison, allowing them to regroup and launch new attacks.