Militant attacks target Pakistani security forces, 3 killed

Hours earlier, in the Khyber tribal region, the cross-border attack late Thursday left two Pakistani soldiers and six suspected militants dead, a military statement said.

Asad Mansoor, a spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar breakaway faction of Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the group’s fighters targeted the army post and warning of more such attacks.

Later Friday, the military said it had launched airstrikes in the Khyber region the previous night after receiving intelligence about the presence of a local militant leader, Mangal Bagh. Several suspects were killed, it added, providing no further details. It did not elaborate on the fate of Bagh, who has escaped such airstrikes in recent years.

Pakistani militant have carried out numerous attacks in the country over the last decade, killing thousands of people, including police and paramilitary forces.

The country’s boundary with neighbouring Afghanistan is especially volatile and Islamabad claims many of the attacks in Pakistan are orchestrated from militant safe havens next door. After a string of suicide attacks killed more than 125 people in Pakistan last month, Islamabad closed the Pakistan-Afghan border indefinitely.

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Associated Press Writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Riaz Khan, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Militant attacks target Pakistani security forces, 3 killed

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