DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Taliban militants attacked Pakistani forces and recaptured a strategic town yesterday while two suicide bomb blasts at an Islamic university in the capital killed four people and wounded at least 20, officials said.
The army on Monday captured the small town of Kotkai, the birthplace of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, on the approach to an insurgent base in South Waziristan. But militants struck back yesterday to retake it, security officials said.
Meanwhile, two suspected suicide bomb blasts at the International Islamic University in Islamabad killed four people and wounded at least 20, officials said.
The sprawling university teaches over 12,000 students, nearly half of them female, focusing on education that adapts Islam for modern times.
Witnesses and police said one suicide bomber detonated a device in a canteen, while the other went off elsewhere on the campus.
Remote and rugged South Waziristan, with its rocky mountains and patchy forests cut through by dry creeks and ravines, is a global hub for militants, and the offensive is being closely followed by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan.
“Seven soldiers, including a major, and several Taliban were killed in the fighting,” an intelligence official in the region said.
Another intelligence official said jets bombed Taliban positions in and around Kotkai after the militant counter-attack. The town is a gateway to a militant stronghold at Sararogha.
It is not possible to verify independently reports from the battle zone as foreign reporters are not allowed in and it is dangerous for Pakistani reporters to visit. Many of the Pakistani media based in South Waziristan have left.
The army says 78 militants and nine soldiers have been killed since the long-awaited offensive began on Saturday.
There was no independent verification of the tolls.
US defence secretary Robert Gates said he was encouraged by the offensive but it was too early to gauge the impact. Gen David Petraeus, commander of US forces in the region, held talks with Pakistani military and government officials on Monday.
About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.
Up to 200,000 people could flee the region, the army says. – (Reuters)