Pakistani troops Friday found the bodies of 24 suspected Taliban militants who were killed in overnight fighting with U.S. and Afghan soldiers near the border inside Afghanistan, an army spokesman said.
The bodies were found near Alwara Mandi, a small market town in the North Waziristan tribal region, spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said.
"They were killed at some stage last night in fighting with (U.S.-led) coalition forces and Afghan forces," Sultan said.
He said he believed the fighters may have been trying to enter Pakistan when they were killed.
"We alerted our troops to stop anyone from entering into Pakistani territory, but the Pakistan army was not involved in any shooting," he said from Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad where the army is headquartered.
Pakistani border patrol
Pakistan is a close ally of the United States in its war against terrorism and has deployed thousands of troops in regions along the border with Afghanistan.
Afghan and U.S. officials say Taliban insurgents stage attacks from Pakistani areas.
An Afghan military official said one Afghan National Army soldier was killed and another was injured when suspected Taliban fighters fired rockets at their base in Afghanistan's southeastern Paktia province, near the Pakistani border.
Maj. Gen. Rehmatullah Raufi, the top army commander in Paktia, said the Afghan base was attacked Thursday night in Lwara area, across from Alwara Mandi on the Pakistani side.
Raufi said there was no ground fighting with the Taliban but Afghan troops fired several rockets toward the suspected Taliban positions. He was not aware of any casualties among the attackers.
