Violence in Pakistan's tribal belt kills 16

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Sunday (Reuters) - Sixteen people, including eight paramilitary soldiers, were killed in Pakistan in separate incidents in its restive tribal belt on the Afghan border, officials and residents said.

Eight members of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary were killed when militants attacked their checkpost in the early hours in Mir Ali, about 24 km (15 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, officials said.

"There were eight casualties. There were a few missing soldiers as well, of whom a few have come back. There are a few still missing," said military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan

He said security forces were hunting the gunmen. Residents said helicopters later flew over the area and there had been some firing from them, as well as firing at them from the ground, but Sultan said he could not confirm that and was awaiting more information.

In another incident, eight people, including a woman, were killed and nine wounded in what witnesses believed was a helicopter gunship attack on the house of a militant in Dandi Sadhgy, 8 km (5 miles) north of Miranshah.

"The house belonged to Maulana Noor Mohammad," one of the wounded said from his hospital bed in Miranshah, referring to a religious scholar who supported Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers.

All those killed in the attack were members of Mohammad's family. The scholar was not among the dead, said the wounded man, who declined to be identified.

Sultan said there had been some firing and some civilian casualties in the area but he did not have details. He said authorities were investigating and declined to speculate on a link between the two incidents.

Waziristan is part of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt that stretches through rugged mountains and deserts along the border with Afghanistan.