Militants target Pak posts on Afghan border,11 troops killed

It is also rare for authorities to sustain or admit to sustaining such heavy casualties in a single day. The top government official in Mohmand,Amjad Ali Khan,said 11 soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in the fighting.

The troops called in helicopter gunships to help push back the militants,said Maj Fazl Ur Rehman,a spokesman for the Frontier Corps security force. The fighting ended by morning.

What little information the Army gives out about its operations in the tribal regions is nearly impossible to verify independentlybecause access is restricted and the conflict zones are dangerous.

Also Friday,a remote-controlled bomb rigged to a bike exploded on the outskirts of Quetta city in southwestern Pakistan,killing a police officer and wounding five more,police official Hamid Shakil said. Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province,where a long-running insurgent movement that wants greater autonomy for the region has at times targeted security officials.