U.S. Troops Kill 24 Militants, Pakistan Says

American troops based in Afghanistan killed 24 militants who had fled across the border into Pakistan’s tribal region, Pakistan’s military said Friday.

Pakistani security forces recovered the bodies in the Lowara Mandi area of North Waziristan on Thursday night, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said.

“We presumed these people were trying to escape into Pakistani territory when they were hit by coalition forces,” Sultan said by phone from Islamabad, the capital.

Sultan said the identity of the slain men had not yet been established.

Pakistani security forces, meanwhile, arrested seven suspected militants Friday during an operation in the same border area. The identity and nationality of the suspects had not yet been determined, Sultan said.

The spokesman said U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan had alerted Pakistani security forces in the federal tribal area before pursuing the militants across the border.

Sources said two U.S. jets also crossed into Pakistan’s air space and dropped three bombs near Lowara Mandi but did not cause significant damage.

Suspected Taliban militants reportedly had attacked a military post operated by U.S.-led forces inside Afghanistan’s troubled Paktika province near Lowara Mandi on Thursday night. According to unconfirmed reports, two soldiers were killed in the late-night attack.

The coalition forces, backed by fighter planes and helicopters, counterattacked in the hilly area along the border and fired heavy weapons.

Pakistan’s government had recently closed Afghan refugee camps in North Waziristan in a bid to curtail militants’ movements into Afghanistan.