Hundreds attack Pakistan post on Afghan border

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Hundreds of heavily armed militants on Wednesday besieged a remote Pakistani post on the Afghan border, killing at least one policemen as helicopter gunships were deployed, officials said.

Pakistani officials said the militants attacked from Afghanistan, targeting the Shaltalu checkpoint in a remote part of northwestern district Dir, where Pakistan sought to put down a Taliban insurgency two years ago.

“The fighting is going on. They are resisting with full force,” Rahim Gul, a police official told AFP by telephone from the nearby Barawal police station.

“They are in the hundreds and very well armed with light and heavy weapons. The area is remote and surrounded by mountains,” he said.

Initial contact by radio had been lost, but he said helicopter gunships had been mobilised to try to put down the attack, with around 40 local and tribal police resisting on the ground.

Taliban and other Islamist militants have carved out strongholds on both sides of the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Kabul and Islamabad both trade accusations over insecurity plaguing their territory.

A senior intelligence official in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Northwest, said 300 to 400 militants had attacked from across the border.

"There was a firefight at the checkpoint and after the fighting we have had no contact with policemen there. We have received just one dead body of a policeman but we fear they have killed several policemen," he told AFP.

“They are resisting and are firing on police. We are facing problems because they are in the mountains. We have sent reinforcements.

“They are using both light and heavy weapons. We are engaging them from the air. Helicopters are shelling them," he added.

The police confirmed the death of one policeman but said seven coffins had been sent to the area, fearing that the death toll could rise.