Around 50 Pakistani soldiers are missing after gunbattles with Islamic militants in a troubled tribal area that have already claimed 80 lives since the weekend, the army said yesterday.
The soldiers have been out of radio contact since the morning in rugged North Waziristan, a region bordering Afghanistan where the United States says Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and the Taliban are regrouping.
News of the missing soldiers comes as a fresh blow to the army, with militants already holding more than 200 Pakistani soldiers in another part of the insurgency-plagued ethnic Pashtun tribal belt.
Violence has spiked in the troubled region since Pakistani security forces besieged and then raided the al-Qaeda-linked Red Mosque in Islamabad in July -- an operation that Osama bin Laden has urged militants to avenge.
"We have reports of around 50 troops missing. They are out of communications and their whereabouts have not been found," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.
The soldiers went missing as they were moving from place to place following fresh clashes near Mir Ali, the second biggest town in North Waziristan, Arshad said.
The military said earlier that the death toll from fierce clashes on Sunday in the same region had risen to 60 militants and 20 soldiers.
Troops backed by gunship helicopters launched an assault against militant bases and hideouts in retaliation for attacks on military convoys overnight on Friday, sparking hours of intense battles.
"Sixty militants have been killed by security forces in North Waziristan Agency since Sunday morning," an army statement said Monday. "Twenty security forces persons have also embraced Shahadat (martyrdom) in the ensuing clashes."
Local residents said four civilians also died, including three women, although the military could not confirm this.
President Pervez Musharraf has been under mounting pressure to tackle militants who fled over the Afghan border after the US-led invasion to topple the Taliban regime in late 2001.
Musharraf, a key US ally at the centre of international efforts to combat Islamic extremism, won a landslide victory in Saturday's presidential election and pledged to continue the fight against terrorism "100 percent."