MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - A Pakistani army major was wounded early on Monday as militants unleashed a barrage of more than 30 rockets on four different army locations near the Afghan border, security officials said. Another army officer was slightly injured when a remote-controlled bomb hit his patrol convoy overnight in the violence-plagued tribal region being used as a hideout by Al Qaeda and Taleban-linked insurgents, they said.
The overnight rocket attacks started around 11:00 pm (1800 GMT) Sunday and continued intermittently until 4:00 am Monday, a security official said on condition of anonymity. Troops in retaliatory strikes arrested three suspected militants, one of whom was wounded, one security official said. At least seven rockets targeted a checkpoint outside Miranshah, the main town in the tribal North Waziristan region, wounding the army major. Seven rockets each also hit near the Saidgai and Shawal check posts. And about a dozen rockets struck near a troop base in Razmak, damaging a nearby telephone exchange but causing no casualties. |