Taliban attack on Pakistan border leaves over 30 dead

Taliban fighters have launched a series of attacks on several paramilitary checkpoints in northwestern Pakistan, leaving at least 11 soldiers and 24 Taliban dead, officials say.

"At least 11 of our men have been martyred and 12 others wounded," Amjad Ali Khan, the administrator of lawless Mohmand tribal district, told reporters.

About 150 Taliban fighters attacked on Friday five frontier checkpoints in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, a security official says.

Pakistani back-up forces have been sent to the help forces who have been searching for militants.

The Pakistani forces have been launching attacks on the northern border with Afganistan in recent months, but the Taliban have been fighting back.

Around 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since government forces raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in 2007.