Taliban attack NATO forces in Pakistan, Afghanistan

More than 200 Pakistani Taliban militants attacked a security post in the northwestern region of Orakzai Wednesday, triggering a clash in which at least 40 gunmen and two soldiers were killed, officials said.

The violence came as US National Security Adviser Jim Jones and CIA director Leon Panetta were in Pakistan to urge Islamabad to step up pressure on militant groups following a botched May 1 car bombing in New York's Times Square, a White House official said.

The militants emerged out of forested mountains to attack the checkpoint in the Dobbari area soon after dawn, said Nauman Khan, a government official in the region.

"They first fired rocket-propelled grenades at our checkpost and then closed in and attacked," a military officer in the northwest said on condition of anonymity. "We responded quickly and repelled the attack after fierce fighting that lasted about three hours."

At least 40 militants as well as two soldiers were killed. Twenty-two soldiers were wounded, he added.

There was no independent confirmation of the casualty toll, and Taliban spokesmen were not immediately available for comment, Reuters said.

The Pakistani military has increased its offenses in the Orakzai and Khyber regions of the northwest in recent weeks after largely clearing Taliban strongholds in other areas.

Also Wednesday, a similar Taliban attack on the largest NATO base in Afghanistan sparked hours of battles in Kabul, killing an American contract worker and 11 militants and wounding nine soldiers from the US-led foreign military force.

Agencies