Afghan rebels stage cross-border attack into Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Hundreds of extremists crossed over from Afghanistan to attack a Pakistani military outpost Sunday, officials said, in an illustration of the merging of the Taliban insurgency on the two sides of the border.

The attack pointed up the growing boldness of extremists operating in the lawless tribal areas abutting Afghanistan at a time when Pakistan has diverted some forces to the frontier with India.

While stepping up their campaign against government troops, the insurgents also employed extreme forms of cruelty to intimidate civilians in the tribal areas. Hospital authorities in Khar, the main town in the Bajur tribal area, said over the weekend that extremists had chopped off the ears of five captured members of a local committee organized to keep the Taliban out of town.

In the confrontation in Mohmand tribal area, a neighboring district to Bajur, Pakistani officials said at least 40 extremists and six soldiers were killed in fighting near a military camp close to the Afghan frontier. As many as 600 fighters massed for the predawn assault, according to Pakistani authorities and news reports.

In addition to the six government troops killed, local tribal authorities said guerrillas were believed to have captured at least five soldiers. Some troops abducted in battle later have been beheaded by insurgents.

Analysts said the Mohmand fighting reflected stepped-up coordination between Taliban commanders in Afghanistan and in Pakistan and underscored the ease of movement by extremists across the rugged, poorly demarcated border.

Insurgents also may think Pakistan is preoccupied with guarding its eastern border with India rather than focusing on the fight against extremists along the frontier it shares with Afghanistan, analysts said.

Pakistan reportedly redeployed thousands of troops to the Indian border last month when tensions flared in the wake of the November attacks in the city of Mumbai, which India and U.S. intelligence have blamed on the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Frontal attacks by extremists on Pakistani military positions, as opposed to hit-and-run skirmishes, are somewhat unusual but could become more common if insurgents' surveillance — which tends to be thorough and constant — reveals a particular post is vulnerable, analysts suggested.

The soldiers targeted in Sunday's assault were not regular army troops but were from the less well-armed and well-trained Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force that operates in the border zone.