Pakistani troops killed at least 36 Taliban militants in two separate security actions in restive north-west Pakistan, security officials said on Thursday, dpa reported.
"Sixteen insurgents, including two commanders Younis and Rehmat, died when our troops, which were backed by helicopter gunship, cleared several bunkers of the militants in Koza bandi area of Swat district," army spokesman Major Murad Khan told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Twenty more militants were wounded in the action.
Swat, which is located in North-Western frontier Province (NWFP), was formerly a popular tourist destination until the followers of a radical cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, waged war against the government forces late last year for the enforcement of Taliban rule.
Separately, twenty rebels were killed during heavy exchange of firing with paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) in semi-tribal Darra Adamkhel, some 30 kilometers south of NWFP's capital Peshawar.
The clashes took place late Wednesday and early Thursday, according a press release issued from FC.
Fighting between the troops and the militants is going in Darra Adamkhel since last week when the insurgents tried to carry out a suicide attack at an FC base there.
Two people were killed and more than 30, including 20 security personnel were injured in the foiled bombing.