Pakistani troops kill two militants in attack

ISLAMABAD, June 18 (Reuters) Pro-Taliban Pakistani militants attacked a paramilitary checkpoint near the Afghan border today and two militants were killed, a Pakistani government official said.

The militants attacked the post in North Waziristan, where Pakistani forces are trying to drive out foreign Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and defeat their Pakistani allies.

A small group of militant tribesmen attacked the post after five comrades were arrested with hand grenades, said a government official in North Waziristan.

''They suddenly opened fire on the post but our troops responded quickly and gunned two of them down,'' said the official, Fida Mohammad Khan.

Many al Qaeda and Taliban fled to Pakistan's semi-autonomous border after the Taliban were ousted in Afghanistan in 2001. The militants were given refuge by ethnic Pashtun tribesmen who live on both sides of the border.

Militants on Pakistan's border also launch attacks into Afghanistan, where foreign and government forces are facing the worst violence since the Taliban were ousted.

A Pakistani Taliban leader, Haji Omar, attended a gathering today in South Waziristan to mark the killing by Pakistani forces in 2004 of a Pakistani militant commander.

Omar told about 2,000 tribesmen attacks on US forces in fghanistan would continue until the Americans withdrew, a Pakistani security official said.

REUTERS KD RN1735