By DPA
Islamabad : At least 48 pro-Taliban militants and 20 troops died Sunday in heavy fighting in Pakistan’s tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, the army said.
Thirty rebels died and 20 were injured in an assault by government forces south of the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan following overnight bomb attacks on military convoys, according to army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad.
Ten members of the security forces were killed and the same number injured. The spokesman added that he was unaware of civilian casualties in the operation as claimed by local media.
Four non-combatants, including three women, died in bombardments that damaged around a dozen houses, the Dawn news channel reported.
The military operation responded to earlier attacks on two convoys that killed two soldiers and injured 30.
At a second flashpoint in the area, at least 18 militants and 10 soldiers died in exchanges of fire that followed an ambush of a convoy, Arshad said as the clashes continued into the evening.
Army and paramilitary units were supported by helicopter gun ships and artillery.
Pakistani security forces have been targeted by militants in the remote mountainous tribal areas almost daily since commandos stormed the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad in July.
The army spokesman denied reports that rebel attackers captured 28 soldiers last week from a checkpoint in North Waziristan.
Militants are currently known to be holding more than 240 soldiers that they propose exchanging for 30 of their comrades in police custody.
Three captured soldiers were shot dead on Thursday and the militants threatened more executions if their demands were not met.