By Jibran Ahmad
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) -Islamist militants killed six Pakistani soldiers in an exchange of fire with the military in a northwestern tribal district bordering Afghanistan, the army said on Thursday.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of several Sunni Muslim militant groups, claimed responsibility.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed condolences to the grieved families. “No matter how long the battle, our valiant armed forces, with the support of the nation, will root out terrorism in its entirety,” he said in a statement.
The bloodshed came after Pakistan declared a new offensive against militants following a resurgence of attacks, including a mosque bombing that killed more than 100 people in February.
Islamabad says the militants, who want to establish a hardline version of sharia (Islamic law) in Pakistan, enjoy safe haven in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to plan and execute the attacks, a charge Kabul denies.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, foreign minister of Afghanistan’s Taliban administration, is due to arrive in Islamabad on Friday for meetings with his Pakistani and Chinese counterparts.
“A fire exchange took place between terrorists and our own troops,” the army said in a statement describing Thursday’s incident in North Waziristan, which has long been a hotbed of militants operating on both sides of the border.
It said three militants were also killed when the army engaged them, adding that it was searching the area to determine if any more attackers were in hiding.
The incident came within a week of several attacks by militants, including an assault by a suicide bomber who drove into a military base camp just outside Pakistan’s rugged, lawless tribal district, killing three soldiers.
The Pakistani Taliban have been behind attacks against the state that have become more frequent since last year, after it revoked a ceasefire and peace talks with the government in Islamabad collapsed.
The government says the peace talks allowed the release from prison of hundreds of the militants and their leaders, enabling them to regroup and launch fresh attacks.
(Reporting by Jibran Ahmad; additional Reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail KHan; writing by Asif Shahzad; editing by Alison Williams, Clarence Fernandez, Mark Porter and Mark Heinrich)