BFF-70 Pakistan kills seven militants in shootout near Afghan border

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PAKISTAN-UNREST-NORTHWEST

Pakistan kills seven militants in shootout near Afghan border

ISLAMABAD, Oct 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Pakistani security forces killed seven
militants in a firefight after insurgents crossed the Afghan border into
Pakistan’s restive tribal region, the military said Tuesday.

Officials said the clashes erupted late Monday when militants attacked a
Pakistani border post in North Waziristan tribal district.

“During (the) exchange of fire seven terrorists (were) killed while three
(were) injured,” the military said in a statement.

Violence in Pakistan has declined dramatically in recent years following a
series of military operations along the northwestern border with Afghanistan,
but militant groups are still able to carry out deadly attacks.

Pakistan’s army launched a massive operation in 2014 to wipe out militant
bases in North Waziristan and end the near decade-long insurgency that has
cost thousands of lives.

The operation intensified after the Taliban massacred more than 150 people,
the majority of them children, at a school in the northwestern city of
Peshawar in December 2014.

In 2016, the Pakistani army claimed to have cleared the last militant
stronghold in the country’s northwest after a three-month long operation.

But analysts have long warned that Pakistan is not tackling the root causes
of extremism, and that militants retain the ability to carry out spectacular
attacks.

A suicide blast in the southwestern province of Balochistan on July 13
killed at least 149 people during a campaign rally — one of Pakistan’s
worst-ever terror attacks — underscoring continuing security challenges in
the country following years of dramatic improvements.

BSS/AFP/MRI/2000 HRS