Militants ambushed Pakistani security forces at checkpoints near the Afghan border Saturday, sparking gun battles that left 22 insurgents and two troops dead, officials said. Government officials Mohammad Yasin and Mohammad Naseem said two more troops were wounded in the clashes in the Orakzai and Kurram tribal regions. They said a search and clearance operation launched after the clashes also seized 25 suspected insurgents, according to a report of The Associated Press. The force commander in Kurram, Col. Tausif Akhtar, told reporters the troops had cleared six villages of Taliban fighters. «We have also cut a main route the militants would use to enter the region,» he said.
