Three Pakistani soldiers have been killed and three wounded in an ambush by suspected Al-Qaeda-linked militants in a remote tribal region near the Afghan border.

A military official said the militant fired a rocket at military vehicles and also opened fire at security personnel on Tuesday at Spin Kairaghzai area in South Waziristan, reported China Radio International.

The attack came five days after army commandoes killed five militants who had taken two Chinese engineers hostage in the same region.

One Chinese was rescued while another was killed during the operation.

The kidnapping was masterminded by Abdullah Mahsud, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner, to press his demand for a halt to anti-terror operations to flush out Al-Qaeda-linked foreign militants and their local supporters.

The official said the area where the ambush occurred was a stronghold of Mahsud, who is being hunted by security forces.

Source: CRIENGLISH.com