Taliban kill 15 Pakistani soldiers in ambush

By Sami Paracha

KOHAT, Pakistan (Reuters) - Taliban militants killed at least 15 paramilitary soldiers in an ambush in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, officials said.

The militants attacked a convoy of paramilitary troops as it was heading towards the volatile town of Hangu, 40 km (25 miles) west of the garrison town of Kohat.

"At least 15 soldiers including an officer have been killed in the attack," a senior government official in Hangu told Reuters.

A military official said up to 12 soldiers were killed.

A Taliban spokesman said one of their fighters was killed.

Tension has been running high in and around Hangu since Thursday when militants took 11 paramilitary soldiers and government workers hostage to press for the release of their seven men arrested earlier.

Militants have threatened to kill the hostages if their comrades were not freed.

Violence had subsided in Pakistan's northwest on the Afghan border, where militants are very active, after a new coalition formed following February elections and led by the party of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto opened talks with the militants through tribal interlocutors.

But the lull seems to be over and militants have stepped up their activities in the northwest after their top leader Baitullah Mehsud suspended talks last month.

Authorities named Mehsud in a wave of suicide attacks across the country over the past one year, including the one that killed Bhutto.

Mehsud has denied his involvement in Bhutto's murder.

(Writing by Zeeshan Haider, editing by Mary Gabriel)