By IANS,
Islamabad : Thirty militants and nine security personnel were killed Monday in fighting in northwest Pakistan, officials said.
Fighting started when militants attacked a security check post at Mashti Meela in lower Orakzai. About 40 insurgents and five soldiers were injured in the clash, Xinhua reported.
Pakistan’s armed forces have been in action for over a year now against the Taliban in the country’s restive northwest.
The operations began in the Lower Dir area of the North West Frontier Province, now renamed Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, in April 2009 and then spread to Upper Dir, Buner and the Swat Valley.
Within six months, the military had managed to push the militants into their strongholds in South Waziristan and the focus shifted to this region in October 2009. The military is now preparing to go into the North Waziristan region.