Pakistan clashes kill over 40 rebels and 2 soldiers

By Sahibzada Bahauddin PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - More than 40 Islamist militants and two soldiers have been killed in the latest fighting in Pakistan's troubled northwest near the Afghan border, paramilitary force officials said on Tuesday. Pakistani security forces in recent months have been locked in battles with militants in the Bajaur ethnic Pashtun tribal region as well as the nearby Swat Valley, a mountain valley once popular with tourists. In an apparent reaction to the Pakistani offensives, militants have unleashed a wave of suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan, most in the northwest. The Pashtun regions are havens for al Qaeda and... [read full story]