Pakistan official says 17 bodies found after clash

By: 10 years ago

A Pakistani security member checks fleeing tribal people coming from neighboring Khyber tribal region due to fighting between security forces and militants, as they arrive in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014. The Pakistani army is now regularly targeting militants’ hideouts in Khyber, since fighters fled there from neighboring North Waziristan tribal region where it has been conducting a monthslong operation. The offensive has also driven thousands of local tribesmen to leave their areas and head for safety in the main northwestern city of Peshawar. AP/Mohammad Sajjad

PESHAWAR, Pakistan—A government administrator in Pakistan says soldiers have found 17 bodies dumped in the country’s tribal region, saying the dead were all insurgents killed in overnight fighting.

The administrator, Khalid Khan, says troops spotted the bodies during a search Saturday morning in the Khyber tribal region bordering Afghanistan. He said the dead, all men, attacked security forces around midnight and that the ensuing firefight last for several hours.

Journalists aren’t allowed to report from Pakistan’s tribal regions.

Khan says the bodies of the militants were found in three places in the Khyber tribal region, where Pakistan army last month launched an operation to eliminate local militants targeting security forces. Local and foreign militants use the tribal region as a base to launch attacks in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.