Posted 2008/08/07 at 1:36 am EDT
KHAR, Pakistan, Aug. 7, 2008 (Reuters) — At least 25 pro-Taliban militants and two Pakistani soldiers were killed in fierce clashes in a tribal region along the Afghan border, government officials said on Thursday.
The clashes erupted late on Wednesday when militants intercepted a security vehicle in the Loi Sum area in Bajaur, a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and the Taliban militants.
"We have reports of 25 militants. Two paramilitary soldiers were also killed and three wounded," a senior government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The fighting continued overnight as army helicopter gunships pounded militant hideouts in the mountainous region.
Separately militants ambushed a security vehicle with a remote-controlled bomb early on Thursday near Khar, the main town of Bajaur, killing two soldiers, officials said citing an intelligence report.
The security situation across the northwest has deteriorated in recent weeks amid mounting pressure by Western allies on Pakistan to stop militants making cross-border attacks on their troops in Afghanistan.
Violence had subsided in Pakistan's northwest after a new coalition government took office following elections in February and opened talks with the militants through tribal elders.
But the lull seems to be over and militants have stepped up their activities after their top leader Baitullah Mehsud suspended talks in June.
(Reporting by Augustine Anthony; Editing by Zeeshan Haider and Sanjeev Miglani)
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