PESHAWAR: Casualties suffered by the Pakistan Army in a cross-border attack in Upper Dir district have reached 13 as seven soldiers, who were captured by the militants, have been beheaded, DND reported on 25 June, 2012.
Six soldiers were already killed in gunbattles with militants on Sunday who crossed from Afghanistan into the northwestern district of Upper Dir, a key border transit route that neighbours the Swat valley where Pakistan defeated a local Taliban insurgency in 2009.
Intelligence officials blamed the attack on loyalists of Pakistani cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who fled to Afghanistan after losing control of Swat to the army.
The military said 11 soldiers had also gone missing on Sunday, “out of whom seven soldiers have been reportedly killed and then beheaded”. Two rockets and sniper fire were also fired into Lower Dir on Monday.
DND