Militants ambushed a convoy of troops on Thursday, killing seven and wounding 22 in the deadliest attack for months in North Waziristan, officials said.
Separately, a suspected foreign insurgent and another paramilitary soldier died in a gunbattle at a checkpoint in the rugged and largely lawless area, they said.
The soldiers who died in the ambush had been securing the convoy's route in Sarobi village 20 kilometres north of Miranshah, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Major-General Shaukat Sultan said.
"This happened when security forces were moving and mounting routine security positions. The attackers used nearby heights and attacked the security forces," Sultan told AFP. "There are seven martyred and 22 injured."
Helicopter gunships and soldiers hunted the rebels after the attack, killing up to six militants whose bodies were removed by their comrades, a security official said on condition of anonymity.
Sultan said troops were responding to the attack and had secured the area but did not confirm the militant death toll. An AFP correspondent said firing had stopped but soldiers were barring all vehicles from the area.
Meanwhile a shootout erupted on Thursday when a suspected foreign militant refused to get out of a car at a checkpoint near Khar, the main town in Bajaur which is another of seven tribal regions, Sultan said.
"He started firing at the paramilitary forces. One was killed and the suspect was also killed," he said. The suspect's body was undergoing tests to establish his identity.
Also, five paramilitary soldiers were injured late Wednesday when a remote-controlled roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Spinwah village 40 kilometres north-east of Miranshah, a security official said. Rockets were also fired at security forces in the nearby border town of Mirali early Thursday but caused no casualties.
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