Islamabad, Apr. 18, (dpa/GNA) – Pakistani troops killed seven Islamist militants as they tried to enter the country from neighbouring Afghanistan, the military said.

The militants were killed after an exchange of fire with troops in the north-western region of North Waziristan, a statement by the military said on Wednesday night.

They militants cut through parts of the fence at the porous border and were carrying a heavy cache of arms and ammunition, the statement added.  

The Pakistani Taliban, who are different from their Afghan counterparts though both follow the same hardline interpretation of Sunni Islam, have killed around 80,000 Pakistanis in decades of violence.

They were pushed back in a series of offensives since 2014, but have been seeking to regroup in Afghanistan since the fall of Kabul to the Afghan Taliban.

The cross-border attacks by the group have strained relations between Islamabad and Kabul, which is controlled by the Afghan Taliban, the militia that was once supported by Pakistan’s spy agency. GNA