By Aamir Latif
KARACHI
At least 16 suspected Taliban militants were killed and 20 others injured in an intense battle with security forces in the northwestern Orakzai tribal region, officials said on Saturday.
The clash, according to the army's media wing – the Inter Services Public Relations -- took place on the border between Orakzai and Khyber agencies when a group of militants was ambushed by the army.
The militants left the bodies of nine of their accomplices behind and two seriously wounded fighters were apprehended, the army's media wing said.
The Pakistani army has intensified its ongoing operations against militants after a gruesome mass shooting at a school in Peshawar city on Dec. 16 killed over 140 people, mostly children.
Nearly 1,700 militants have reportedly been killed in ongoing military operations in the tribal region since June 15.
More than 100 troops have also lost their lives in clashes and landmine blasts during this period.
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