By DPA
Islamabad : At least 50 militants and 17 soldiers were killed in clashes and a suicide attack in north-west Pakistan, even as President Pervez Musharraf assured US diplomats of his “firm resolve” to fight terrorism.
“Last night (Thursday night) four checkpoints were attacked in the Razmak area of North Waziristan. That attack was beaten back and we have reports that up to 50 militants were killed,” army spokesman Waheed Arshad told DPA.
Helicopter gunships and artillery were used in the operation to rout the attacks. Two security personnel were also killed in a separate attack on a checkpoint in the same area.
Fourteen members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps were wounded in the fighting at Razmak by the unmarked administrative border with South Waziristan, where the army had killed up to 40 militants on Wednesday.
In a separate incident, at least 15 soldiers were killed in a suspected suicide attack at an army canteen in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Eleven people were also injured in the blast that occurred at the compound of the army’s elite commando unit deployed at Tarbeela Ghazi, around 95 km north-west of Islamabad, Arshad said.
The nature of the blast was not determined yet. However, a security official said on condition of anonymity that it was a suicide attack, which targeted the Special Services Group’s Karar unit.
The death toll was predicted to rise as several of the injured were said to be in a critical condition.
The unit had participated in the storming operation at Islamabad’s radical Red Mosque in early July, Geo news channel reported.
More than 100 people died in the action, which prompted a series of attacks on security forces, killing over 300 people, including several dozen security personnel.
The fresh incidents of violence came as Musharraf Thursday discussed counter-terrorism cooperation with the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.
“Pakistan’s commitment should never be in doubt as it is in Pakistan’s own national interest,” he told the visiting official.
The US administration has increased pressure on the military ruler to eradicate Al Qaeda and Taliban activity in Pakistan’s tribal areas by the border, but has been careful not to publicly undermine Musharraf, a key ally who will shortly seek re-election.
During a two-day visit for the second round of the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue established last year, Negroponte said the South Asian country was doing “more than its share” in the struggle.