PESHAWAR: At least 16 militants were killed on Saturday as security forces backed by gunship helicopters thwarted a cross border militant attack on a checkpost near the Pak-Afghan border in the Bajaur tribal region.

Military officials said that a large number of militants from across the border attacked a Pakistani post situated on Nao Top early in the morning.

Pakistani troops responding to the attack repulsed it.

Meanwhile, gunship helicopters were also sent as reinforcement.

During the gun battle and airstrikes, one soldier died and two were critically injured.

The government had recently closed all illegal entry points on the border with Afghanistan, Defence Secretary Lt-Gen (retd) Asif Yaseen Malik had said.

Today's action came a day after the Shura Mujahideen Waziristan group, led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, in North Waziristan asked local residents to move to safe locations close to the Afghan border to avoid being caught in crossfire in the event of a military operation in the area.

A pamphlet issued by the group alleged that the government had practically revoked an agreement with them without making any announcement to the effect, by attacking ‘innocent people’ and destroying property.

“We continued to tolerate this repression but now it has exceeded limits,” the pamphlet had alleged.

The pamphlet was distributed after the group met in the wake of air strikes and ground search in Machis Camp near Miramshah bazaar and Mirali during which, according to the government, over 70 militants were killed.

Residents claim that more than 100 people have been killed, many of them civilians.