The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Islamabad

Islamic militants in Pakistan attacked a fort near the Afghan border Tuesday, sparking fighting with government forces that left five troops and 37 fighters dead, the army said.

The attack, the second this month, occurred in South Waziristan, a lawless tribal region where al-Qaida- and Taliban-linked militants operate.

The militants targeted the Lahda Fort, which houses paramilitary troops, and a nearby observation post in a pre-dawn raid in South Waziristan, located along the border with Afghanistan, the military said in a statement.

Thirty-seven militants and five troops were killed in the intense fighting, the statement said. Two other soldiers were killed and seven wounded in a clash in the neighboring North Waziristan, it said. The violence in the border region, as well as a series of suicide attacks that have killed hundreds in recent months, is triggering uncertainty in the country ahead of Feb. 18 elections that many predict will weaken President Pervez Musharraf's grip on power.

More than 150 rebels and soldiers are reported to have been killed in the region this month alone. On Jan. 10, insurgents also attacked Lahda Fort. The military said then that between 40 and 50 of the attackers were killed. Last week, the militants overran a second fort in the region, leaving up to 22 soldiers dead or missing in a major embarrassment for the military.

The latest attack on Lahda Fort came hours before Adm. William Fallon - the head of the U.S. Central Command and top commander of American forces in the Middle East - arrived in Pakistan for talks with army chief Ashfaq Kayani, the Pakistan army and the U.S. embassy said.