MIRAMSHAH, July 31: Security forces, backed by helicopter gunships, killed 15 militants in a pitched battle in the troubled North Waziristan tribal region here on Tuesday, a military spokesman said.

However, the local authorities later said that 18 bodies had been brought to a paramilitary base in Miramshah.

“Security forces have retrieved 15 bodies and arrested two wounded persons from the battle zone,” ISPR director-general Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad said. He told Dawn from Islamabad that investigations were under way to ascertain names and nationalities of the dead and the arrested persons.

The local authorities said that helicopters were hovering over the area and security forces had laid siege to a village also named Miramshah, some two kilometres from the main town.

Residents said the clash started when two vehicles were seen moving towards a paramilitary post, some five kilometres south of the Miramshah town. Forces fired warning shots from the Banda post.

People in the vehicles fired back at the paramilitary forces and a gunfight ensued. The troops pressed Cobra helicopters which pounded suspected locations in the area and the two vehicles. The helicopters also came under fire.

Sources said that the troops had encircled the Banda area and the Miramshah village. The helicopters also attacked three houses which were damaged.

Local people alleged that the security forces did not allow them to take the wounded to hospitals.

ARMY CAMP ATTACKED: On Monday night, militants had attacked the headquarters of paramilitary forces in the Miramshah town, but no casualty was reported. The sources said that five rockets fired at the fort landed in adjoining areas. One rocket hit the hostel of a government school in the town and two others landed near the army camp.

In Mirali tehsil, two telecommunication installations and a roadside shed were blown up on Monday night. Rockets were also fired at Ghazlamai post in the area.

INCENTIVES SUSPENDED: The political authorities have suspended payment of incentives and salaries of the residents of Darpakhel, Borakhel and Miramshah villages under the collective and territorial responsibility clauses of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

An official told Dawn that the incentives were suspended after security forces had come under attacks in the areas. The administration has also warned officials and Khasadar personnel to immediately report for duty or face termination.

The sources said that many government employees and Khasadar personnel had stopped doing their job after militants warned them against working for the armed forces. After scrapping the peace deal with the government, local militants distributed pamphlets asking Khasadar and Levies personnel not to report for work.

The prevailing tension in the region has affected business in the Miramshah bazaar which has remained closed for six days.

FOUR SOLDIERS KIDNAPPED: Officials said that armed men kidnapped four paramilitary soldiers from the Bakakhel area of the Frontier Region Bannu on Tuesday, Our Bannu Correspondent adds.

The soldiers have been identified as Syed Alam, Jehanzeb Ali, Hayat Mir and Tajir Ali.

The officials said that the soldiers were on routine patrol when the armed men stopped their vehicle and took them away.

Meanwhile, the body of a paramilitary soldier identified as Hussain was found in the area.

It could not be confirmed when and from where he had been kidnapped.

The security forces had also come under attack in the area on Monday.

A Cobra helicopter fired on a car which was behind a convoy and four people were injured.

AFP adds: “Around 40 miscreants started firing at security forces and took positions in nearby hills, and security forces retaliated,” the ISPR director-general said.

Earlier, a roadside bomb wounded six paramilitary troops, two seriously, as they delivered food to colleagues on the perimeter of the South Waziristan Agency, security officials said.

Seven people, including three soldiers, were killed in violence in North Waziristan on Monday.