Peshawar, Oct 25 : A total of 1,500 suspected Taliban and al Qaeda militants and 73 troops have died in operation of Pakistani security forces in the Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan.

Inspector General of Frontier Constabulary Major-General Tariq Khan said on Saturday that Pakistan Army has captured a key militant stronghold near the Afghan border, a breakthrough in an offensive against the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Washington  , Oct 25 : The US military experts are only training the Pakistani trainers in counter-insurgency techniques in tribal areas, and not directly the troops, Pentagon said here last evening.

“There has been a very, very small ‘train the trainer’ operation going on in Pakistan for some time,” the Dawn quoted Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell as saying.

Islamabad, Oct 25 : Pakistan was fully committed to the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, which was expected to meet substantial portion of “our energy needs”, said the country’s Law Minister Farooq Naek.

He said this while speaking in the Senate here last evening.

Islamabad, Oct 25: Rejecting IMF condition that Pakistan should cut down on its defence budget by 30 percent, the country’s Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar has said that the defence sector was already facing a “financial crunch” because of the devaluation of Pak rupee against the US dollar. And, hence, there was not a possibility of cutting down on the defence budget.

Terming the IMF’s condition as “mere hearsay” at this stage, he insisted Pakistan “had not even applied for the fund’s assistance”.

He said Pakistan had yet to apply for the IMF bailout package which, according to him, would be the last option for the government to avail.

Khar, Oct 25: Pakistani security forces reportedly killed 12 Taliban last evening, after they targeted suspected Taliban hideouts in various areas of Bajaur Agency.

Backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, the security forces pounded the Taliban positions in Charmang, Chinar, Kohi and Banda areas in Nawagai tehsil and Zobandar and Anzrai areas in Khar tehsil, reported the Daily Times.

Islamabad - Pakistan's security forces claimed Saturday they had seized a strategic Taliban militant base in the country's ungoverned tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

Major General Tariq Khan, inspector general of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said the troops had taken control of Loi Sam area in Bajaur tribal district, a known sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters carrying out cross-border attacks on US-led international forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistan troops backed by fighter planes and helicopter gunships launched a major offensive in August after militants captured a strategic hilltop in Loi Sam on a road leading into the Afghan province of Kunar, and reinforced their positions in the surrounding areas.