More than 100 Taliban armed with rocket launchers attacked a Pakistani checkpost near the Afghan border in South Waziristan on Thursday, triggering gunbattles that killed eight soldiers. It was the second time in a week that scores of militants besieged a checkpost in tribal belt, underscoring the scale of the threat that Taliban and al Qaeda-linked extremists pose to security forces.

The Taliban struck early Thursday in Marubi, 40 kilometres (25 miles) 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. Another security official in Wana, the main town of the tribal district, confirmed the incident and the casualties.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011