Pakistan Launches Assault in NW, 20 Militants Dead

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Source: Reuters

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces backed by aircraft killed at least 20 Taliban insurgents on Tuesday in the Mohmand region on the Afghan border, government and paramilitary officials said.

Pakistan is struggling to stem Islamist militant influence and violence in the northwest as it keeps a wary eye on its eastern border with India after militant attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai led to a spike in tension between the neighbors.

The offensive in Mohmand was launched as U.S. Central Command chief General David Petraeus arrived in Pakistan for talks with government and military leaders.

"Troops are moving forward from two opposite directions in a bid to squeeze the militants and not let them flee," a senior government official in the region, Syed Ahmed Jan, told Reuters by telephone.

Security forces have recently stepped up their operations in Mohmand, which is to the north of the city of Peshawar, to fight al Qaeda and Taliban militants fleeing a military offensive in the Bajaur region, to the north.

The United States and Afghanistan have for years urged Pakistan to eliminate militant bases in lawless ethnic Pashtun tribal regions on the border from where the Taliban infiltrate into Afghanistan to fight U.S.-led forces.

more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE50J23020090120