Hundreds of Taliban fighters storm Pak check posts

Hundreds of heavily armed Taliban fighters attacked Pakistani security forces check posts at two places near the Afghan border triggering fierce gun battles, which left five soldiers and 33 militants dead.

Paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel repelled the attack in which Taliban fighters used suicide bombers, rockets and assault rifles to overwhelm the security forces check post in Jansi area of Khyber tribal region.

Officials said Five Frontier Corps personnel were killed and about 15 others injured in the attack.

The security forces killed 25 militants while repulsing the attack, they said. The troops also destroyed an explosives-laden vehicle when it attempted to enter the camp. In a separate incident, eight militants were killed and five hideouts destroyed when helicopter gunships targeted rebel hideouts in Sherin Dara, Baizot, Kokdara, Charo Kalay and Mirobak areas of Orakzai tribal region, sources said.

Pakistani forces have recently been continuously targeting the militants in Orakzai Agency where they believe that Taliban and foreign fighters are sheltering to get away from army offensive in the neighbouring South Waziristan.

Officials have claimed that over 150 militants have been killed in the area though the figure cannot be independently verified as journalists are barred from reporting from the conflict zone.

The big military push on Orakzai came even as US drones launched fresh missile attacks in North Waziristan tribal region killing six militants.

Two missile attacks, one hour apart reaped through an abandoned school near the town of Mir Ali killing six militants.

The identities of the dead were not clear and it was also not known whether they included any high value targets. North Waziristan is a known stronghold of the Haqqani network and Afghan warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur.