At least 20 people are reported to have been killed in clashes on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

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Eight Taleban militants were also killed in the fighting, reports said.

None of the Pakistani, Afghan or US militaries have yet officially commented on the incident.

The soldiers' deaths are reported to have happened at a border post in the Mohmand region, one of Pakistan's tribal areas, opposite Afghanistan's Kunar province, late on Tuesday.

"Sometime after midnight a missile fired from the Afghan side struck our post resulting in the martyrdom of at least 10 soldiers including a commanding officer. Nine soldiers were wounded," an unnamed security official told AFP news agency.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan, in Karachi, says the border areas of the tribal district are full of Taleban fighters and local administrators have little power there, although security forces keep a presence on the border posts.

In a separate incident, in a different region, four civilians were killed in an operation by US-led forces in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition said.

Three women and a child died as troops targeted militants in Paktika province, a US military spokeswoman said, describing the deaths as "tragic".

(BBC)

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