More than 150 Taliban fighters armed with rocket launchers attacked a Pakistani checkpoint near the Afghan border in South Waziristan, triggering gunbattles that killed eight soldiers.
12 militants were killed. It appeared to be part of a new strategy by the Pakistani Taliban of staging large-scale assaults on military and government targets in a bid to demoralise the army.
It came on the heels of a flurry of missile strikes by US drone aircraft in the tribal region along the Afghan border regarded as a hub of militants from around the world.
It was the second time in a week that scores of militants besieged a checkpoint in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt.
The US has called Pakistan's semi-autonomous northwest region the global headquarters of al-Qaeda and US officials are increasing pressure on Islamabad to launch an all-out military offensive in North Waziristan.
The Taliban struck in Marubi, 40km from the Afghan border with North Waziristan, stronghold of the Haqqani network, which poses one of the most potent threats to US troops in Afghanistan.
'Eight soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in the attack. More than 10 Taliban were also killed in the retaliatory firing,' a security official told AFP in Peshawar, the main town in northwest Pakistan.
Another security official in Wana, the main town of the tribal district, confirmed the incident and the casualties.
Taliban and other militants have carved out strongholds on both sides of the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Last week, Pakistan protested to Kabul and NATO over a deadly cross-border attack that took two days to quell.
Waziristan
Pakistan carried out a sweeping offensive in 2009 in South Waziristan targeting the country's main Taliban faction, but many of their commanders and foot soldiers are believed to have fled to North Waziristan.
Despite Pakistan coming under huge pressure after Osama bin Laden was killed by US troops in a garrison city on 2 May, a leading general last week insisted that any operation in North Waziristan would be of Pakistan's choosing.
More than 4,400 people have been killed across Pakistan in attacks blamed on Taliban and other Islamist extremist networks based in the tribal belt since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
CIA chief Leon Panetta, who will appear before the US Senate Armed Services Committee as it considers his nomination to be defence secretary, has warned that Pakistan needs to step up the fight against terrorism.
‘Future requests for security assistance will be informed by Pakistan's response to the counter-terrorism steps we have proposed,’ he said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected in Pakistan tomorrow for talks likely to touch on peace efforts with Taliban insurgents.
Pakistan was the main supporter of the Taliban until the 11 September 2001 attacks, after which it allied with the US-led war on extremism.
But analysts believe that while fighting home grown Taliban, Pakistan has maintained contacts with Afghan Taliban and anti-India jihadist groups in hopes of remaining a pivotal player in the region.
