Militant attack on border outpost kills 9 troops in Pakistan

Militants attacked a security compound in northwest Pakistan with an explosives-laden truck and gunfire, killing at least nine paramilitary officers, officials said Friday.

The violence Thursday in Bajaur follows a deadly car bomb and mortar attack in the past week that left 21 people dead in the same restive region bordering Afghanistan.

"In the attack, nine paramilitary officers and 10 militants were killed," a senior security official in Peshawar said, adding the attackers drove the explosives-loaded vehicle into the compound's gate.

The attackers fled after a prolonged exchange of fire with security personnel, at least 35 of whom were wounded in the assault, the official added.

Another senior government official in Bajaur confirmed the death toll.

The militant group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, very active in the region, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a separate incident in Bajaur's Inayat Killi area, three security personnel were wounded when a mortar shell landed inside another Frontier Corps camp, officials said.

The Bajaur violence follows a car bomb attack that killed 15 on Sunday in the Fateh Khel area of Bannu and a mortar attack on May 7 on a market in the Thall area of Hangu district that took six lives.

Pakistan blames Afghanistan for harbouring terrorist hideouts, a claim Afghanistan denies.

The frosty relationship between the neighbouring countries has spiralled into deadly armed conflict in recent months, including Pakistani airstrikes on cities in Afghanistan.