Three soldiers, 14 Taliban killed in NW Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Three Pakistan soldiers and 14 Taliban fighters were killed as Islamabad pushed its massive assault against the insurgents in the northwest, officials said Sunday.
Eight Taliban were killed when Pakistani jet fighters pounded the militants' hideouts in South Waziristan tribal district, bordering Afghanistan, two security officials said.
The attacks came as Pakistan prepared to draw a line under the northwest operation.
The destroyed hideouts belonged to the members of Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud against whom the military has vowed to open a second front, the officials said.
Separately Pakistani artillery pounded two Taliban hideouts in Lower Dir district's Kashmor village Sunday, killing five rebels and injuring five others, district coordination officer Ghulam Mohammad told AFP.
The two hideouts were targeted and destroyed on intelligence received by Pakistan, the official said.
A daily military statement rounding up developments over the past 24 hours said a militant was killed and another arrested during a search operation in Swat valley where troops destroyed five caves where militants were hiding.
At least 15 other militants were arrested in different parts of Swat and seven soldiers were wounded, it said.
One soldier died in an exchange of fire with militants in South Waziristan, while two others were killed in a bomb blast in a mosque in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan, it said.
The death tolls provided could not be verified independently as the areas are under military operation.
The Pakistani army launched a massive offensive in late April in the three northwestern districts of Buner, Lower Dir and Swat to flush out Taliban militants.
The military said last week the operation was almost over and on Thursday Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced that preparations were being made to send home from Monday nearly two million people who fled their homes in the Swat valley.
Paramilitary troops raided militant hideouts in Khyber tribal district's Shinkoh village and after a gunfight that left two soldiers injured, arrested 11 of the rebels, paramilitary Colonel Mujahid told AFP.
"Among those who had been arrested, five are from South and North Waziristan tribal districts, four (are) Afghan nationals and two locals," said Mujahid, who goes by one name.
The troops also seized hundreds of bullet rounds, rocket launchers, wireless equipment and documents, he said.
Two explosive-filled vehicles meant to be used in suicide attacks were also destroyed.
The Khyber tribal district lies between Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, and landlocked Afghanistan and is a key strategic route for vital civil and military supplies to the war-torn country.