PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN – Up to 250 people, including at least 45 soldiers, have been killed in fierce fighting in northwestern Pakistan over the past four days, with Pakistani military jets bombing suspected insurgent hide-outs amid tough resistance, officials and residents said Tuesday.
The military said that at least 150 insurgents had been killed in the battles in North Waziristan, a remote tribal region that al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters have used as a base for operations.
The most intense clashes have come in the town of Mir Ali, where the military has deployed heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and fighter jets to try to oust insurgents who have been waging an aggressive campaign against the Pakistani army. The use of fighter jets is unusual, but government officials said it was necessary given the strength of the firepower they were facing from the insurgents.
“The resistance from local Taliban is tougher than what the government usually expects,” conceded a tribal affairs official in Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier province. “Such tough resistance also gives credence to speculation that al-Qaeda- trained foreign fighters might be backing these local Taliban.”
The fighting, which began late Saturday with an insurgent strike on a military convoy, has taken a heavy toll on civilians. There were reports Tuesday of large numbers of casualties among residents caught in the crossfire. Civilians in some villages used mosque loudspeakers to appeal to both sides not to target homes or shopping areas.
Military officials conceded the heavy fighting may have resulted in civilian casualties, though they would not give specifics.
Rising militancy in the tribal areas has been a major concern for the U.S. Tuesday’s fighting came as the White House released a report that again pointed to Pakistan’s tribal belt as an operational headquarters for al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.
![Newspaper advertisement offering reward for the return of an escaped man to his oppressors, Princess Anne, Maryland, April 1, 1861. Text reads: “0 Reward. Ranaway from the subscriber on Tuesday Morning, 26th Ultimo [last month], My negro boy calling himself Severn Black. The said negro is about 5 feet six inches in height, chesnut color, has a scar on his upperlip, downcast countenance when spoken to, blink-eyed, showing a great deal of white, long bushy hair, is about twenty years old, had on when he lefta [sic] blue fustian Jacket, pantaloons of a greyish color, blue striped shirt, a Black slouch hat and shoes nearly worn out. The above reward will be paid by me for the apprehension and delivery of the said negro in the county jail at Princess Anne, Somerset County, Maryland. April 1, 1861. Richard E. Snelling. Somerset Herald Print, Princess Anne, Md.’ The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 obliged citizens and lawmen of free zones to return escaped men to those whom they fled. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)](/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/GettyImages-53262583-16x9-1.jpg?w=620 "GettyImages-53262583-16x9-1")
