Pakistan: 8 insurgents, 2 kids killed in battle with troops

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani security forces attacked a militant hideout near the Afghan border Wednesday, prompting a shootout that killed eight of the insurgents and two children and wounded two soldiers, the military said.

It was unclear whose fire killed the two children during the raid on the outpost in South Waziristan, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The military, in its statement about the violence, did not identify the militant group to which the slain insurgents belonged.

South Waziristan served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban and other militants until a few years ago, when the army said it cleared the region of insurgents. But occasional attacks have continued.

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, are a separate insurgent group from the Afghan Taliban, although Pakistan’s militant groups are often interlinked with those across the border in Afghanistan.