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MOHMAND, Pakistan, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Pakistani troops killed at least 24 militants after several security checkposts were attacked in a northwestern tribal region on the Afghan border on Friday, paramilitary officials said.
About 150 militants staged simultaneous attacks using small and heavy weapons on five army checkposts in the Baizai area of the Mohmand tribal agency on the Afghan border, officials said.
"The militants attacked the checkposts at around 1:15 a.m. (2015 GMT) and 24 militants were killed in retaliatory attacks by our security forces," a Frontier Corps official said.
Three paramilitary troops were also killed and about a dozen wounded in clashes that continued for hours, the official said.
A militant spokesman confirmed the attacks but disputed the official death toll, saying only two of their fighters were killed and three wounded. He said militants killed about a dozen troops.
Pakistani troops have scored major gains against pro-Taliban militants in military offensives and operations since last year, but insurgents have proved resilient and continued attacks on security forces and civilians.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since the army stormed a militant-run mosque in capital Islamabad in 2007.
The army says its offensives in the Swat valley, South Waziristan and other tribal regions have weakened the Taliban, although analysts question their effectiveness because militants tend to melt away during crackdowns and establish strongholds elsewhere.
Pakistani action against militants on the border is seen as crucial to efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are spearheading one of NATO's biggest offensives against the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan has often been criticised for not doing enough, however.
An intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan has brought more pressure on Pakistan to go after militants operating out of sanctuaries in remote enclaves on its side of the border.
(Reporting by Shams Mohmand; Writing by Augustine Anthony; Editing by Chris Allbritton)
(E-mail: augustine.anthony@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: augustine.anthony@thomsonreuters.com; Islamabad newsroom: +92 51 281 0017))
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