"Two paramilitary soldiers were killed and two others were seriously hurt in the suicide bombing," the official said. Two other paramilitary soldiers were killed when pro-Taliban militants attacked Isha and Qamar checkposts in North Waziristan, a security official told AFP.
Both sides traded intense rocket and mortar fire for two hours, he added. Gunmen also killed one policeman Saturday when they lobbed a hand grenade at a police checkpost in the north-western town of Bannu, senior police official Dar Ali Khattak told AFP.
The attack injured five other officers and the culprits fled on motorcycles, he said. A suicide bomber also blew himself to pieces in Bannu after being cornered by police, injuring one policeman and a civilian, Khattak said. Earlier, a soldier was injured in a firefight with suspected pro-Taliban militants, officials said. The soldier was hurt when militants clashed with security forces near the Christian cemetery in Miranshah.
Separately, militants fired up to 20 rockets before dawn at the Banda checkpost outside Miranshah, but there were no reports of casualties from the incident, an official said. In neighbouring South Waziristan, a tribal "jirga," or peace committee, set off to negotiate the release of 15 paramilitary soldiers taken hostage by militants last week, senior local government official Hussain Zada told AFP.
"We hope the jirga will be able to secure release of the kidnapped soldiers and help bring peace to the area," he said of the meeting due to take place in the town of Spinkai Raghzai. Pakistan's army said Friday that 15 militants were killed and a dozen others injured in clashes on Thursday which erupted after militants tried to ambush a security forces convoy on the Jandola road. Seven soldiers also died.
The Waziristan tribal belt has been the scene recently of escalated military operations against suspected Taliban and al Qaeda cells believed to be planning attacks from there within Pakistan, in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world. Elsewhere, a bomb planted by suspected militants blew up a tribal force checkpost at Hazarnau village, 12 kilometres north of Khar, the main town in Bajaur, another tribal district bordering Afghanistan, a local official said.
Authorities defused a second bomb planted at the checkpost and arrested 18 local tribesmen, the official said, adding that there were no casualties in the blast.