The gunfight erupted after more than 40 militants armed with rockets and assault rifles stormed a security post in Baizai town in the Mohmand Agency, where security forces have been trying to flush out insurgents, local official Maqsood Hussain said.
The paramilitary post had recently been reinforced by soldiers following intelligence reports that militants were planning an assault, he added.
A foreign news agency reported that 15 suspected militants were killed in Mohmand tribal region.
Two soldiers were wounded in the clash, Hussain said.
A security official confirmed the incident and the militant losses.
In the other attack, troops shelled at a militant hideout in Orakzai agency, killing eight of them and destroying two compounds, state-run news agency APP reported.
Troops have killed more than 100 militants over the past month in small-scale operations against militant strongholds in the Mohmand Agency.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 21st, 2011.
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