Islamabad - At least two soldiers were killed and 10 went missing when the Taliban ambushed a convoy of paramilitary troops in Pakistan's restive tribal region, officials said on Wednesday.

The convoy of 52 security personnel from the paramilitary Frontier Corps came under attack in the Baezai area of the Mohmand tribal district located near the Afghan border.

"Our two soldiers were martyred and two were injured in the attack," said local administration official Roshan Khan. "Ten soldiers are missing. We are trying to locate them."

An intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Taliban initially seized 12 soldiers. "They beheaded two of them and dumped their bodies, while they took the rest with them," he added.

Following the raid, Pakistani helicopter gunships pounded Taliban hideouts in the district, killing at least 10 militants, Khan said.

Bajaur is one of the eight districts of the mountainous tribal region, a stronghold for thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. Pakistani security forces are attempting to eliminate militant hideouts in some districts.

The biggest operation is underway in South Waziristan district, where 30,000 troops are pitted against an estimated 10,000 Taliban guerrilla fighters and hundreds of Uzbek rebels linked to al-Qaeda.

A military statement said on Wednesday that seven "terrorists" were killed during an "intense exchange of fire" at a newly established check post in the Makeen area of the district. Two soldiers were also injured.

The Pakistani military has recently regained control of Makeen, the home town of Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who died in a US drone attack in early August.

"Security forces are in the process of clearing Makeen and expanding their area of domination," said the army statement. A large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered during clearance operations.

The latest casualties reported by the army take the death toll in the three-week offensive in South Waziristan to 502 on the part of the Taliban, as against the 46 soldiers killed in the fighting.

The figures cannot be independently confirmed since South Waziristan is blocked to journalists.

The operation that Pakistan says is crucial in its fight against rising Islamic militancy has displaced more than 200,000 people, mostly from the ethnic Pashtun tribe of Mehsud.

In retaliation, the militants have intensified attacks on civilian and official targets, killing more than 300 people since mid-October when the operation was launched.

Some 32 people died and dozens more were injured on Tuesday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle in a crowded market in the north-western city of Charsadda.

Separately, three militants died and many were injured in various security actions in Khyber, another tribal district that also borders Afghanistan, said Fazal-ur-Rehman, a spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps.

He said that the security forces destroyed a Taliban mortar position along with a large quantity of ammunition in the district. (dpa)