Pakistan: Taliban kill seven soldiers
Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed by the Taliban in Kurram.
The Pakistani Taliban killed seven soldiers and wounded three others in an attack on a check post in the Kurram region on Thursday, the AFP reported.
"Armed militants stormed the post around midnight and killed seven soldiers," said the official, who did not want to be named, the AFP reported. He did add that troops retaliated killing 18 militants.
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The clashes occurred at the Shidano Dand post is located in Kurram. According to Jamil Khan, a military official, 18 militants were killed when troops retaliated, the Associated Press reported. Khan said there were about 40 militants attacking the base, armed with rockets, grenades and automatic weapons.
The Taliban took responsibility for the attack, although spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told the AFP 12 soldiers were killed and four were abducted.
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"We carried out this attack to avenge the killing of our commander Taj Gul in Khyber agency," Ehsan said, the AFP reported. "We have killed 12 [Frontier Corps] soldiers and captured four others alive." He also added they seized a wide variety of weapons.
Media outlets were unable to independently confirm the information and death toll because the border region is off limits to reporters, the AP reported.
This is the third attack of its kind in Kurram in the last few weeks, the BBC reported. Another checkpoint attack occurred on Tuesday, killing eight soldiers and 20 militants. In July, Pakistan launched an offensive against militants in Kurram, the BBC reported.
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