Militants' raid in Pakistan sparks fight

KHAR, Pakistan -- Dozens of militants coming from Afghanistan took scores of villagers hostage in Pakistan's northwest yesterday, sparking fighting with the army that killed at least 14 people, Pakistani officials said.

It is the latest chapter in an infiltration trend that has seen Islamabad railing against Afghan and NATO forces for not doing enough to stop the cross-border attacks, which it says have killed dozens of members of its security forces.

The U.S. and Afghan governments have long complained that Pakistan allows sanctuary to militants fighting in Afghanistan, warning that instability in the war-torn country poses a threat to Pakistan as well.

Yesterday, Taliban gunmen fired on a compound in eastern Pakistan housing police trainees, killing nine, officials said.

The cross-border attack appeared to be targeting members of an anti-Taliban militia in Kitkot village near Pakistan's Bajur tribal area, said Tariq Khan, a local official. They came from Afghanistan's Kunar province and took hundreds of villagers hostage, including anti-Taliban militiamen, he said.

Hundreds of Pakistani soldiers surrounded the village and killed 12 militants, Khan added. Two militiamen were also killed in the fighting.

Soldiers retrieved scores of villagers, but dozens more were still held by the militants or trapped in their homes by the fighting, said Khan and two security officials. -- AP