Five soldiers wounded in Pakistan militant attack

ISLAMABAD, Aug 9 (Reuters) Pro-Taliban militants mounted a bomb attack on a military convoy in a troubled Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border today, wounding five paramilitary soldiers, an army spokesman said.

The convoy was travelling through the North Waziristan region when it was struck by two roadside bombs near the main town of Miranshah.

''Five security forces have been wounded and the blasts have also damaged two vehicles,'' army spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said.

North Waziristan is regarded as hotbed of support for the Taliban and al Qaeda, and there have been several clashes since militants last month scrapped a 10-month old peace pact struck with the government.

Pakistani security forces said they killed at least 10 militants in a an attack on their hideouts in North Waziristan's Degan area on Tuesday.

Militants have carried out a series of attacks, sometimes using suicide bombers, in Waziristan and elsewhere in North West Frontier Province.

More than 200 people have been killed in bomb attacks and clashes between militants and security forces since the army's assault on a pro-Taliban mosque in the capital Islamabad in July.

REUTERS GL RAI1920