Ten Pakistani soldiers were killed during an overnight raid on a suspected al-Qaeda hideout in the tribal territories bordering Afghanistan, an interior ministry official said today.
"Ten members of our law enforcement agencies were killed during an exchange of fire at a suspected al-Qaeda hideout last night," said Brigadier General Javed Cheema, head of the interior ministry's national crisis cell.
Two of the "foreigners" targetted in the raid in southern Waziristan district, some 25 km from the Afghan border, was also killed, Gen Cheema said.
US and Pakistani agents in western Pakistan's tribal belt have been jointly hunting al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives who are believed to have slipped over the border to escape the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan.
AFP