Hundreds of Taliban fighters attacked a fort in South Waziristan seeking to dislodge the para military units stationed there by the Pakistani government. After several hours of intense fighting, 37 militants and 7 Pakistani troops were dead with the fort evidently still in their hands:

Islamic militants in Pakistan attacked a fort near the Afghan border Tuesday, one of two clashes with government forces that left seven troops and 37 fighters dead, the army said.

In Europe, President Pervez Musharraf said border attacks were "pinpricks" that his government must manage. 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.

"There is no Taliban offensive ... being launched," he said at a conference at the French Institute of International Relations think tank. "These are pinpricks that they keep doing — and we have to manage all of that."