Pakistan Security Checkpoint Raided

The BBC reports:

More than 100 militants have stormed a security checkpoint in north-western Pakistan, killing at least eight soldiers, officials say.

At least 12 insurgents were also reported killed in the overnight gun battle that lasted some hours. The attack happened near the town of Makeen in the tribal district of South Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

The area has seen a surge in missile strikes by US drone planes in recent days.

Only a few days ago, locals and officials said a US drone attack in South Waziristan had killed a top al-Qaeda militant, Ilyas Kashmiri.

Tension has been increasing across the whole border region because of a growing sense that Pakistan is preparing to carry out at least a limited offensive in North Waziristan, the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad reports.