Thaindian News

Islamabad, April 22(ANI): At least 15 soldiers were killed in a militant attack on a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan early Friday morning.

A large number of militants, carrying heavy weapons, including rockets, launched a huge attack on a check post in Lower Dir district along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Urdu TV channel ARY quoted security officials, as saying.

Sources said that around 34 border security personnel and 10 policemen were jointly manning the border check post, when the attack took place.

They said the security forces returned fire after they were attacked by the militants, and both sides exchanged fire for several hours. Army helicopters were called for support, which shelled hideouts of the militants.

Several soldiers were also injured in the attack, and the army shifted the bodies and injured to a hospital in Timergara, a main town in the Dir district.

The injured were later shifted to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Army helicopter gunships later bombed militant positions in the mountainous areas, but there have been no report of the militants’ casualties, Xinhua reports.

The firing between Pakistani security forces and the militants is still going on, said the report.

Officials in the area said that militants from Afghanistan had crossed into Pakistan and backed the Pakistani militants in they called the biggest attack in recent months.

There are unconfirmed reports that the militants have also held several soldiers hostage. (ANI)