Pakistani security personnel visit the site of a suicide bombing in the Pakistani tribal region of Khar in Bajur on Friday, May 4, 2012. A suicide bombing in a Pakistani market close to the Afghan border killed 20 people Friday, officials said, a day after the U.S. released letters seized from Osama bin Laden’s compound that criticized Pakistani militants for killing too many civilians. . (AP Photo/Anwarullah Khan)ISHTIAQ MAHSUD
DERA ISMAIL KHAN (AP) – Taliban militants beheaded two Pakistani soldiers and hung their heads from wooden poles in a town in the country’s northwest on Monday, a day after they killed nine soldiers in an ambush there, officials said.
The killings in Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, highlight the dilemma facing the Pakistani military in dealing with the most important militant sanctuary in the country.
North Waziristan is a key base for the Pakistani Taliban, which have waged a bloody battle against the government and its security forces over the past several years. But it is also a refuge for Afghan and Pakistani militants battling U.S.-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan who are believed to be close to the government in Islamabad.
The U.S. has repeatedly demanded that Pakistan launch an offensive against the militants conducting cross-border attacks from North Waziristan, especially the Haqqani network. Pakistan has refused, claiming its forces are stretched too thin fighting the Pakistani Taliban in other parts of the tribal region.