Five people, including two security men, were killed and two policemen abducted on Saturday as pro-Taliban militants carried out three attacks on government forces in Pakistan's North west region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.
Dozens of armed militants fired several rockets and mortar rounds in a pre-dawn assault at a paramilitary security check post in Khar, the main city in Bajaur tribal district, local administrator Mohammed Jamil said.
One soldier was killed and three more injured in the attack. Two women also died and four people were wounded when some of the rockets hit two houses in the area. In a separate incident, militants raided a police checkpoint in Swat district of North-West Frontier Province, killing one policeman and abducting two more.
The attackers also ransacked the check post and took away weapons and wireless with them. In another incident, a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into an army convoy in the Tank district of NWFP, killing himself and wounding two soldiers.
The assaults came a day after the Islamic extremists released 26 of around 240 troops captured over three weeks ago in tribal areas, where the troops have experienced a series of retaliatory attack since military stormed in Islamabad's radical Red Mosque early July, killing several dozens radical Muslims.
Pakistan has deployed more than 90,000 troops to eliminate hideout of al Qaeda and Taliban warriors, who launch cross border attacks on international forces in Afghanistan.