Militants from Afghanistan attack Pakistan

KHAR, Pakistan – Dozens of militants from Afghanistan attacked an anti-Taliban militia post in northwest Pakistan for the third day Sunday, sparking fighting that killed one soldier and 20 militants, a Pakistani official said.

In addition to the dead, four soldiers and four militiamen were wounded in Sunday's attack in the Bajur tribal area, said Jahangir Azam Wazir, a local government administrator.

Pakistan has criticized Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces for not doing enough to stop the rising number of cross-border attacks by Pakistani Taliban militants holed up in the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan, across the border from Bajur.

That criticism could soften after the coalition killed a senior Pakistan Taliban commander in an airstrike in Kunar on Friday. Mullah Dadullah, was the leader of the Pakistani Taliban in Bajur. He was killed along with 11 others, including his deputy.

Four soldiers, six militiamen and 38 militants died during the cross-border attacks in the Salarzai area of Bajur on Friday and Saturday, Wazir said.

The airstrike that killed Dadullah followed the cross-border attack on Friday, but the NATO coalition said there was no coordination with Pakistan during the attack.

The U.S. and Afghan governments have long criticized Pakistan for failing to prevent militants using sanctuaries inside the country from attacking targets inside Afghanistan. The main focus has been on Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, the main militant sanctuary in the country and home to the Haqqani network, considered one of the most dangerous insurgent groups fighting in Afghanistan.