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.Pakistani officials said that these recurrent attacks have been launched from an area of eastern Afghanistan where the US has largely pulled out its troops.
The raids have increased tension between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US.
Armed with heavy weapons, the militants seized control of a local village after attacking the security checkpoints in Chitral district, said local police official Nizam Khan. Pakistani forces responded to the raid and killed nine insurgents, he said.
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 militants chanted ”God is great!” and ”Long live jihad!” as they fought, said Capt. Abdul Ghani, another member of the paramilitary forces.
Chitral is located across the border from the Afghan districts of Nuristan and Kunar, both of which house significant numbers of Afghan and Pakistani Taliban fighters.
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.
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