Pakistani troops kill 29 militants in tribal belt

Eighteen of the alleged militants died early Friday at a military checkpoint in the Orakzai tribal region.

Lt. Col. Tahir Akram, a spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said the fighting involved insurgents who arrived from the nearby Khyber region to try to retake the checkpoint in Orakzai where the Taleban have a heavy presence. He said the security forces repulsed the attack and captured four insurgents. One soldier was wounded. The violence was concentrated in the districts of Orakzai, where the military has been waging a nearly three-week offensive against the Taleban, and Kurram, which has a tradition of sectarian unrest and Islamist militancy.

The military has announced a running death toll of more than 100 militants in the Orakzai operation since March 24, but the figures cannot be verified independently because access to the remote area is extremely limited.

Orakzai is a former bastion of Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan leader Hakimullah Mehsud, whom US officials believe probably died in a US drone attack in January. The Pakistani military says it has no evidence he is in the area; Kazinform cites Arab News. See www.arabnews.com for full version.