Dozens of fighters in Pakistan have attacked five checkpoints in a region near the Afghan border, sparking a clash that killed three soldiers and 24 fighters, the Pakistani military said.
The fighting occurred in the northwest's Mohmand tribal area overnight on Thursday.
A statement from the Frontier Corps security force, a paramilitary division of the military, said that around 150 Taliban fighters staged the attacks on the checkpoints in Baidnami, a village in the Mohmand Agency.
The Frontier Corps confirmed the death toll, and said at least 12 soldiers had also been wounded in the clashes.
The information is difficult to verify independently because access to the region is restricted.
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islambad, said the five posts that were attacked "involved over a hundred fighters".
PHOTO CAPTION
Pakistani security personnel are seen at the site of an attack in Ghalanai, the main town in the tribal district of Mohmand, on December 6.
Al-Jazeera