Pakistan tries to take back control of border

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan -- Dozens of Islamic militants died in clashes with Pakistani troops Friday, the army said, amid reports that government forces had launched an operation to clear the area of fighters who overran military positions near the Afghan border.

The intensifying combat highlighted the deteriorating security in the region, a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida.

Last month, Islamist warlord Baitullah Mehsud unveiled an alliance of Taliban militants operating in the lawless tribal area. That represented a new challenge to the authority of President Pervez Musharraf, who has deployed nearly 100,000 troops in the region since joining the U.S.-led war on terror six years ago.

Musharraf has blamed Mehsud and pro-Taliban militant cleric Maulana Fazlullah for about 20 suicide attacks in the last three months that have killed more than 400 people.

In a new show of strength this week, hundreds of Mehsud's fighters mounted attacks on the two forts in South Waziristan that exposed the Pakistan military's weak grip over the lawless border region.

An intelligence official based in the area said security forces had in response launched a sweep to clear the area of militants. He asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Between 50 and 60 insurgents died Friday when they attacked a fort in the village of Ladha with small-arms fire and rockets, a military statement said. Security forces repelled the attack using mortar and artillery fire.

Up to 30 more attackers were killed when they tried to ambush a military convoy near the village of Chakmalai, the army said. Only four troops were wounded, it said. It was not possible to confirm the casualty claims.

Despite its reports of high militant casualties in Friday's clashes, the army denied that it had launched an offensive against the rebels.

"There was absolutely no offensive launched at any village in South Waziristan," Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.

It was difficult to reconcile the conflicting claims because many telephone lines in the affected villages had ceased functioning, and the confused nature of the fighting made it too dangerous for people to venture out of their homes to check on the situation.

But those villagers who could be contacted said some people were fleeing their homes after witnessing intense artillery shelling and an aerial attack by a government jet.

"There are families with scores of women and children with their luggage and cattle who moved out and walked to safe places through the mountains," said Abdul Rahim, a resident of Kot Langer Khel near Ladha.

Alam Sher, a medic in the village of Chakmalai, reported heavy fighting after a large number of infantrymen moved into the area under the protection of helicopter gunships. He said two people were killed close to the village.

"Since early morning I have been hearing gunshots and explosions, and I am receiving calls from local people to come to provide medical aid to the injured," Sher said, adding that nobody could get to the two bodies because the gunfire was continuous.

Another intelligence official, also on condition of anonymity due to the nature of his job, said militants had attacked Razmak fort on the border of South and North Waziristan after sunset. At least a dozen rockets were fired at the fort and security forces inside responded with artillery fire, he said.

It was not clear if there were any casualties in that clash.

Elsewhere, two Sunni extremists awaiting execution for a bloody attack on rival Shiites in 2004 escaped from a heavily guarded prison in the southwestern city of Quetta. The prison break came a day after a suspected Sunni suicide bomber attacked Shiites assembled for prayers during the holy month of Muharram.

The escape of Saifullah Usman and Shafiqur Rehman -- sentenced to hang after a 2004 attack on a procession that killed 42 Shiites -- adds to the growing sense of insecurity in the country.

"Their escape in a sensitive month is very dangerous," Quetta's police chief Rehmatullah Niazi said.

On Thursday, the suspected Sunni extremist blew himself up inside a Shiite mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The strike killed a 11 and wounded 25 people ahead of this weekend's Ashoura festival.

Ashoura is the culmination of Shiite rites during the holy month of Muharram when they mourn the seventh century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein -- an event that led to the split in Islam between the Shiite and Sunni sects.

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Associated Press writers Bashirullah Khan in Miran Shah, Munir Ahmad and Zarar Khan in Islamabad, and Pamela Hess in Washington contributed to this report.