By Xinhua
Islamabad : The security forces on Saturday killed three militants in northwest Pakistan, local Pakistani TV channels reported.
Some unknown armed men fired rockets and attacked with automatic weapons on a convoy of security forces in Bakka Khel area of Frontier Region Bannu, a town near North Waziristan tribal area on Saturday.
The security forces retaliated by targeting the hideouts of militants with helicopter raids. As a result, three militants were killed in the operation.
Meanwhile, a peace jirga delegation was trying to secure the release of 15 paramilitary soldiers in the nearby South Waziristantribal area. As many as 16 soldiers were kidnapped by militants in the area on Aug. 9 and one of them was killed later.
Five people including an army official were kidnapped late Friday in Ladha, a town in South Waziristan bordering Afghanistan, according to the report of a TV channel DAWN NEWS.
Some 250 militants and 60 Pakistani troops were killed in a month of fierce fighting in the northwestern frontier areas near the Afghan border, the spokesman of Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Waheed Arshad said on Friday.
The security situation in northwest Pakistan especially the frontier areas bordering Afghanistan deteriorated since local militants in North Waziristan scrapped a peace deal with the government in mid-July. Thereafter the militants continually launched attacks on security forces, triggering clashes that caused heavy casualties.