Insurgents attacked five security checkpoints in a northwestern Pakistan tribal region on the Afghan border today killing 11 troops and leading to clashes in which 24 militants died, officials said.
About 150 militants staged simultaneous attacks using small and heavy weapons on the army checkpoints in the Baizai area of the Mohmand tribal agency, officials said.
"Eleven paramilitary troops were killed and about a dozen wounded when militants attacked several checkposts," the region's top government official, Amjad Ali Khan, told reporters.
At least 24 militants were killed in clashes after the attacks and the death toll would likely rise following assaults on militant hideouts by helicopter gunships, he said.
A militant spokesman confirmed the attacks but disputed the official death toll, saying only two of their fighters were killed and three wounded.
Pakistani troops have scored major gains against pro-Taliban militants since last year, but insurgents have proved resilient and continued attacks on security forces and civilians.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since the army stormed a militant-run mosque in the capital, Islamabad, in 2007.
Elsewhere, an explosion outside a school in northwestern Peshawar wounded a teacher and three children today, police said.
Reuters