Perilous Times
27 August 2011 Last updated at 10:41 ET
Taliban raid from Afghanistan kills 25 Pakistan troops
At least 200 Taliban fighters crossed from Afghanistan into
Pakistan and killed more than 25 soldiers and police, Pakistan's
military says.
The fighters launched an early morning attack on seven military
checkpoints in north-west Chitral district.
The military said its troops fought off the attackers, killing 20
of them while the rest fled back into Afghanistan.
It is the latest in a series of cross-border raids that have
raised tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In its statement, the Pakistani military blamed the attack on
Pakistan and Afghan Taliban-linked fighters who have sought refuge
in the Kunar and Nuristan provinces of Afghanistan, from which the
US largely pulled out of a year ago.
It said the "scanty presence" of Nato and Afghan forces in the
border areas allow "terrorists" to use those areas as "safe
havens", from which they "have mounted repeated attacks against...
security forces posts and isolated villages".
The military said 25 paramilitary soldiers and police had been
killed in Saturday's attack, but a local officials put the death
toll at around 36.