Landmine kills two Pakistani soldiers in Waziristan

PESHAWAR, June 4 (Reuters) Two Pakistani soldiers were killed and three wounded in a landmine blast in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, security officials said.

Waziristan is Pakistan's main front in its war against Islamist militants allied with Afghanistan's Taliban and the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

A military convoy was hit by a landmine blast as it was passing through a village near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, said an army official.

''Two of our soldiers were martyred,'' said the official, who declined to be identified. An intelligence official also said two soldiers were killed and three wounded.

Clashes between the security forces and Islamist militants have intensified in North Waziristan since an airstrike on an al Qaeda compound in early March.

According to the military, more than 300 militants, including foreigners, have been killed.

Many al Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies fled to Pakistan's semi-autonomous border regions after they were driven out of Afghanistan by US and Afghan opposition forces after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

After the mine blast, security forces backed by a helicopter gunship attacked positions in Miranshah, that were apparently being used as militant hideouts, residents and the intelligence official said.

A policeman was killed and four civilians wounded, they said. The military official said he had no information about strikes in Miranshah.

Authorities later imposed a curfew on the town, a resident said by telephone.

REUTERS SK PM1905