KHAR, Aug 30: Two key Taliban `commanders’ and 15 other militants were killed and two security personnel were injured as fierce clashes between security forces and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan continued in the Bajaur tribal region for the seventh straight day on Thursday. A tribal volunteer was also killed.

A security official identified the two ‘commanders’ as Khatir and Turabi who were killed in Batwar area of Salarzai tehsil. He said the two hailed from Malakand division.

He said the volunteer belonged to Salarzai peace committee.

A large number of TTP militants loyal to hardliner cleric Maulana Fazlullah also known as Mulla Radio, have taken refuge across the border in Kunar province of Afghanistan. They have been frequently crossing the border and launching attacks on security forces deployed in Dir, Swat, Bajaur and other areas.

Sources said intense fighting erupted on Thursday morning in Bagandel, Lakian and Batwar areas of Salarzai tehsil and both sides used rockets, missiles, mortar guns and light weapons.

Security forces, backed by helicopter gunships, jet fighters and tanks, attacked Taliban hideouts in the conflict zone.

Several people, including a woman, were injured.

Local people said they had seen jet fighters attacking Taliban hideouts for the first time during the week-long fighting.

Security forces claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the insurgents and said that security personnel and volunteers of the Salarzai Qaumi Lashkar had taken control of several important locations after pushing the TTP militants back.

They said troops moved towards militants’ stronghold without much hindrance and claimed that the area would soon be cleared of Taliban.

Meanwhile, TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed that Taliban had killed a number of soldiers and captured three vehicles of security forces.

The fighting in the area has left a large number of civilians trapped and caused great hardship to them. They have appealed to the government to take steps to get them out of the conflict zone.

Agencies add: Military sources said four soldiers had been killed in the Bajaur fighting and several had gone missing.

The military, which has declared victory in those areas, said the militants killed on Thursday included two commanders from the Taliban branch that controlled the Swat Valley, before an army offensive cleared the group from there in 2009.

Their presence in Bajaur underscores how militants simply melt away when the military steps up pressure and turn up elsewhere to press on with their violent campaign to topple the US-backed government.

This month, militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons fought their way into one of the country’s largest air bases in a brazen challenge to the nuclear-armed country's powerful military.