Search on for troops after fort stormed by rebels

Islamabad: Pakistani security forces were searching on Thursday for 15 paramilitary soldiers who went missing when hundreds of militants stormed a fort in the northwest of the country, a military spokesman said.

Militants have been blamed for a string of attacks on security forces in recent months, compounding a sense of crisis in the nuclear-armed country as President Pervez Musharraf has struggled to hold power in the face of protests from opponents.

In the latest incident, unidentified attackers fired three rockets near a Pakistani air force engineering base in Kamra town 75 km northwest of the capital, Islamabad, yesterday but no one was hurt, military officials said.

Wall blown up

Early on Wednesday, about 200 militants attacked the Sara Rogha fort in South Waziristan on the Afghan border. They captured it after blowing up one of its walls, the military said.

The military initially said 40 militants and seven soldiers were killed and 20 soldiers were missing, but five of the missing men were later reported to have reached villages in the area, said military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas. "Fifteen are still missing," Abbas said. "They are looking for the men, a search operation is on."