PESHAWAR: At least four paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers were injured in an attack on their check post in the town of Tall in northwestern Pakistan’s Hangu district. Six militants were killed in retaliatory fire by the FC.

“Around 50 militants attacked an FC check post and exchanged fire with the soldiers for over two hours,” a local intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.

Another intelligence official also confirmed the incident and said that the attack was repulsed after FC troops retaliated.

Hangu is situated in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which is on the frontline of a seven-year Taliban insurgency and abuts the semi-autonomous tribal belt, where US drone strikes target Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives.

Washington considers the tribal areas a major hub of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.

Tackling homegrown militancy is one of the major tasks for Pakistan's new government, which was sworn in earlier last month after the elections.