PESHAWAR: A clash between Pakistani troops and Taliban on Thursday killed a soldier and seven militants in the country's troubled northwestern tribal area, a security official said.

Fighting erupted after Pakistani troops launched a search operation in a bazaar where Taliban militants are frequently seen in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan tribal district which borders Afghanistan.

“One soldier and seven militants were killed in the operation, one building was later bulldozed in the bazaar,” a security official in Peshawar told AFP.

Another security official confirmed the clash and added that troops were backed by gunship helicopters.

Pakistan launched a major ground and air offensive in South Waziristan in 2009 to clear the area of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) faction, which has been blamed for some of the country's worst violence.

Washington has branded the rugged tribal area on the Afghan border a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on earth.

Taliban militants have killed more than 4,800 people across Pakistan since government troops raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.