Source: Voice of America
https://www.voanews.com/archive/pakistan-army-says-scores-islamic-militants-killed-captured
The Pakistani army says it killed 40 Islamic militants and arrested 30 during two days of fighting along its border with Afghanistan. The United States, meanwhile, has offered to train Pakistani security forces in their fight against the al-Qaida-linked militants. VOA's Nancy-Amelia Collins reports from Islamabad.
The fighting took place in South Waziristan province late Wednesday and Thursday. The army says security forces backed by helicopters attacked suspected hideouts of militants led by the country's most wanted man, Baitullah Mehsud.
In recent months, bomb attacks blamed on Mehsud's followers have claimed the lives of more than four hundred people throughout the country. Most of the violence has been aimed at the security forces, but both the United States and the Pakistani government blame Mehsud for the assassination last month of the opposition leader and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto.
The army has retaliated with raids like the one this week, and can claim some battlefield success. The military said Thursday it had cleared three districts of militants, losing eight soldiers in the fighting.