Officials in Pakistan are quoted as saying at least 10 Pakistani soldiers and 23 suspected militants have been killed in a clash in the northwestern Khyber tribal region, near the Afghanistan border.
Security officials are quoted by the AFP and Reuters news agencies as saying the clash occurred on March 2 in the Tirah valley, and one official was quoted as saying the fighting lasted for nearly six hours.
Reports say the clash broke out after militants attacked a security checkpoint and Pakistani troops returned fire.
An AFP report quotes a Khyber official as saying militants of the Taliban-linked Lashkar-e-Islam group launched the attack.
Independent confirmation of the accounts given by government officials of the incident was not available.
With Reuters and AFP reporting