KHAR, Aug 8: Troops backed by jets and helicopters launched an attack on Friday to rescue about 180 paramilitary personnel besieged by militants in the Lowi Sam area of the Bajaur tribal region.

Two fighter jets and six Cobra helicopters pounded militants’ positions in the area. Heavy artillery was also used to end the siege.

Sources said that militants had suffered heavy casualties, with officials claiming that 27 militants had been killed. Five soldiers lost their lives.

Witnesses said that despite the use of air power, security forces had not been able to break the siege and rescue the soldiers.

The militants encircled the soldiers when they tried to enter Lowi Sam.

Tehrik-i-Taliban’s spokesman Maulvi Umar claimed that the militants had killed 65 soldiers and captured nine during clashes on Wednesday. He also claimed that a number of vehicles of the forces had been captured.

The fighting started when militants intercepted a vehicle in Lowi Sam, a stronghold of the Taliban. The sources said that army troops had not been used in the offensive undertaken by paramilitary forces.

Army spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas, when contacted by Dawn, did not say anything about the besieged soldiers. He said that the Frontier Corps Headquarters in Peshawar should be contacted for information. The FC Headquarters, however, declined to make any comment.Local people said that 13 members of a family were injured when a mortar shell hit the house of a tribesman near Khar. They were taken to the headquarters hospital.

Another eight people were injured in mortar attacks in Inayet Kali area and Haji Lawang village.The sources said that clashes between the forces and militants had spread to Ragan, Salary, Umary and Inayet Kali with the Taliban attacking convoys of security forces in the areas.

Meanwhile, the exodus from Lowi Sam continued on Friday. A large number of families have moved to Peshawar and the adjacent Mohmand tribal region.

Markets and educational institutions remained closed in Khar and other parts of the region bordering Afghanistan.