Pakistani forces say kill up to 90 militants

ISLAMABAD, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Pakistani forces killed up to 90 militants in two battles on Friday in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, the military said.

The clashes came two days after hundreds of militants overran a paramilitary fort in another part of South Waziristan, dealing the military a setback in its efforts to defeat the al Qaeda-linked militants.

In one incident on Friday, government forces attacked a large number of militants who had gathered to attack another attack fort in the region, at Ladha, killing 50 to 60 of them. The rest dispersed, said military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas.

"The miscreants, these terrorists, wanted to probably attack another fort and they were gathering there. Therefore, the security forces took action in retaliation," Abbas said.

Security forces used artillery and mortars to attack the militants and suffered no casualties, he said.

In the second incident, militants ambushed a convoy and 20 to 30 of them were killed when security forces fought back, he said.

"We had a convoy passing through Chaghmalai and these miscreants started firing on the convoy. The security forces retaliated and there was a firefight for an hour or two and then the security forces cleared the area," he said.

Four members of the security forces were wounded in the second clash, he said.

Both clashes were in areas of South Waziristan where an al Qaeda-linked militant leader, Baitullah Mehsud, operates.

The government said Mehsud was behind the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on Dec. 27.

CIA CHIEF BLAMES MEHSUD

Mehsud has been blamed for a string of other attacks on security forces in recent months, compounding a sense of crisis in the nuclear-armed country as President Pervez Musharraf has struggled to hold power in the face of protests from opponents.

The government says the militants are intent on destabilising the country in the run-up to a Feb. 18 general election that is meant to complete a transition to civilian rule.

A spokesman for Mehsud was not immediately available for comment. Residents of South Waziristan said they had heard the sound of explosions on Friday.

CIA Director Michael Hayden, in an interview with the Washington Post published on Friday, also blamed Mehsud for Bhutto's murder.

"This was done by that network around Baitullah Mehsud. We have no reason to question that," Hayden said.

His comments were the most definitive public assessment by a U.S. intelligence official of who was responsible for the assassination of the former prime minister. He declined to discuss the intelligence behind the CIA's assessment.

Security forces have been battling al Qaeda-linked militants in South Waziristan for several years. The mountainous region, occupied by conservative, independent-minded Pashtun tribesmen, has never come under the full authority of any government.

Militants flocked to Waziristan and other parts of the Afghan-Pakistani border in the 1980s to support U.S.- and Saudi Arabian-backed Afghan guerrillas fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan.

Many al Qaeda and Taliban members took refuge on the Pakistani side of the border after U.S.-led troops ousted the Taliban government in Afghanistan weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

From remote border sanctuaries the militants have been launching raids back into Afghanistan, and increasingly into populated parts of Pakistan.

Pakistani forces have been trying to expel foreign militants and subdue their Pakistani allies along the border, where Osama bin Laden is also believed to be hiding. (Additional reporting by Robert Birsel)