MIRAMSHAH, March 24: Security forces killed 18 militants in a counter-attack in North Waziristan Agency on Friday morning, officials said. However, Political Agent Syed Zaheerul Islam put the death toll at 20, while one soldier was killed and two others wounded in the gunbattle, which continued for two hours.

“Some foreign militants may be among the dead”, Mr Islam told Dawn. But independent sources could not confirm the figure. Officials said that security forces had also seized arms and ammunition.

Officials said that a bloody gunbattle took place in Tith Nary area, 24-kilometres southwest of here, when militants attacked an outpost at about 2.45am. They said that one paramilitary soldier was killed and two others were injured.

The attackers fired rockets on the outpost and prompted retaliatory action by esecurity forces.

An official said in Peshawar that Cobra helicopters were called in and artillery was used to repulse the attack. He said that 18 militants were killed, when the troops retaliated.

“We have not counted the bodies, but from the blood littered in the area, we can presume that militants have suffered heavy casualties,” he said.

Following clashes in Tith Nary, political authorities detained eight tribesmen of the Manzerkhel tribe in Miramshah under the territorial responsibility clause of notorious Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and also sealed their shops.

The latest wave of clashes has left near 200 militants dead in the agency where authorities have clamped night curfew.

The sources said that the authorities had continued crackdown against Afghan nationals in the agency and near 100 had been killed during the last three weeks.

They said that arrested Afghans would be handed over to intelligence agencies for interrogation before deportation. Political authorities had ordered Afghans illegally residing in the agency to leave the area immediately.