Troops backed by helicopter gunships battled militants after a military convoy came under attack in volatile northwestern Pakistan.

"Ten miscreants were killed and 12 were wounded when security forces retaliated using gunship helicopters," top military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.

The military convoy had come under attack on the Jandola road near Wana, the main town in South Waziristan tribal district.

Arshad said the helicopters were called in after militants took up positions in the surrounding hills after being engaged by security forces.

"They are still holed up and firing at security forces. The operation is continuing," Arshad said.

He said gunfire was also coming from some houses along the mountain slopes.

"It is tough terrain, we are exercising maximum care to avoid any collateral damage," Arshad said.

Earlier, at least two soldiers were killed and four wounded when a bomb rocked an army convoy in neighbouring North Waziristan district.

The explosion occurred at Spinwam, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of Miranshah, the main town of the troubled district where Pakistani forces are battling Al-Qaeda and other Islamic militants holed up in the lawless region.

"Two soldiers were martyred and four others were injured in the attack," Arshad said.

In a separate incident in another tribal district a pro-government tribal chief was killed Thursday in a bomb attack, officials said.

The bomb, detonated by remote control, blew up the car of tribal elder Shamsul Wahab Khan, critically injuring him, his driver and two guards in Bajaur's Khar district, a local official said.

Khan and his driver died later died in hospital, the official said, adding that authorities were investigating the motive behind the attack.

Khan's brother Daud Khan was among hundreds of tribal chiefs who last week attended a landmark tribal council in Kabul involving tribes from both sides of the volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

The incident comes a day after an anonymous letter distributed in Bajaur threatened tribal elders with reprisals for attending the talks in Kabul aimed at ending support for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the region.

"Your participation at the jirga was not a good decision," officials quoted the letter as saying. "Action will be taken against you," it warned.

Bajaur district is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in volatile northwest Pakistan.

Violence has spiked in recent weeks since local tribal militants scrapped a controversial peace deal with security forces on July 15. US intelligence reports say the troubled region shelters Al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives.

The deal, under which the militants promised not to shelter foreigners and launch cross border attacks, was scrapped after Pakistani forces stormed a radical mosque in the capital Islamabad to dislodge pro-Taliban gunmen last month.

Pakistan has deployed 90,000 troops along the Afghan border to hunt down Taliban and Al-Qaeda fugitives, and deal with the upsurge in militancy.

Meanwhile, in the southwest of the country armed tribesmen attacked a police station Thursday and freed two suspected Islamic militants arrested just hours before, officials said.

Two policemen were injured in the attack by dozens of tribesmen in Musakhel tribal district in Baluchistan province, local administration chief Asmatullah Khel said.

Police said the two arrested men had come from neighbouring South Waziristan tribal district and were picked up from a mosque over suspicions that they were planning attacks, he added.

A notorious Taliban commander Abdullah Mehsud was killed in the same region when he blew himself up to avoid arrest last month.

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