Ten paramilitary troops from Pakistan's Frontier Corps have been killed and eight more are missing after clashes in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of Mohmand.

The troops were killed in two separate incidents. In the larger attack, the Taliban struck a military convoy with a roadside bomb, killing eight soldiers and wounding two more.

"The soldiers were on a routine patrol" near the town of Safi near the Afghan border, Major Fazal ur-Rehman, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps, told AFP. "The landmine was buried by militants. The explosion damaged the pick-up."

The second attack took place near the town of Ghanam Shah. Taliban forces ambushed a Frontier Corps column and killed two troops. Eight more of the paramilitary troopers are missing.

The military also reported that 10 Taliban fighters were killed in Mohmand after Army attack helicopters struck at enemy positions.

Military claimed Mohmand was cleared in March

The recent fighting in Mohmand belies the Pakistani military's claim earlier this year that the tribal agency has been cleared of the Taliban. On March 1, a senior Pakistani officer said the Taliban had been defeated during a series of security operations in Mohmand. Colonel Saif Ullah claimed that the region is "under the control of law enforcement agencies" and that the Taliban had been ejected from Mohmand.

In the months following the military's declaration of victory, there have been several major battles in Mohmand. The Taliban have carried out several large-scale ambushes and attacks on military outposts, while the military has responded with airstrikes and artillery attacks.

Mohmand under command of able Taliban leader

Omar Khalid, the Taliban commander of Mohmand agency.

The Mohmand Taliban are commanded by Omar Khalid, who is a deputy of Hakeemullah Mehsud's Taliban movement. Khalid is considered one of the most effective and powerful leaders in the tribal areas.

Khalid gained prominence in Mohmand during the summer of 2007 after taking over a famous shrine and renaming it the Red Mosque, after the radical mosque in Islamabad whose followers had attempted to impose sharia in the capital.

The Mohmand Taliban took control of the tribal agency after the Pakistani government negotiated a peace agreement with the extremists at the end of May 2008. The deal required the Taliban to renounce attacks on the Pakistani government and security forces. The Taliban said they would maintain a ban on the activities of nongovernment organizations in the region but agreed not to attack women in the workplace as long as they wore veils. Both sides exchanged prisoners.

The Taliban promptly established a parallel government in Mohmand. Sharia courts were formed and orders were given for women to wear the veil in public. "Criminals" were rounded up and judged in sharia courts. Women were ordered to have a male escort at all times and prevented from working on farms. The Taliban also kidnapped members of a polio vaccination team.

In July 2008, Khalid became the dominant Taliban commander in Mohmand after defeating the Shah Sahib group, a rival pro-Taliban terror group with ties to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. The military claimed it killed Khalid in January of this year, but the Taliban denied the report and he has since surfaced.

The Pakistani government has placed a $123,000 bounty on Khalid's head.