Pakistan
This Nov. 26, 2008 photo taken in Orakzai tribal region of Pakistan shows Hakimullah Mehsud who has become the leader of Pakistani Taliban faction a...
This Nov. 26, 2008 photo taken in Orakzai tribal region of Pakistan shows Hakimullah Mehsud who has become the leader of Pakistani Taliban faction after death of Baitullah Mehsud. The Pakistani Taliban acknowledged Tuesday that the militants' top leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was dead, ending weeks of claims and counterclaims over his fate following a U.S. missile strike on his father-in-law's home this month.(AP Photo/Ishtiaq Mehsud)
Pakistan Afghanistan
Pakistani officials receive the coffin of a Pakistani engineer who was killed by bomb blasts in Kandahar, as it arrives at the Pakistani border town ...
Pakistani officials receive the coffin of a Pakistani engineer who was killed by bomb blasts in Kandahar, as it arrives at the Pakistani border town of Chaman on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. A cluster of vehicle bombs detonated nearly simultaneously near a Japanese construction company in the southern city of Kandahar Tuesday, killing at least 41 people, flattening buildings and sending flames shooting into the sky. (AP Photo/Shah Khalid)
Pakistan
Children stand beside a burned Pakistani tanker, which was carrying fuel for NATO forces fighting in Afghanistan, after it was allegedly attacked by ...
Children stand beside a burned Pakistani tanker, which was carrying fuel for NATO forces fighting in Afghanistan, after it was allegedly attacked by militants on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Mohammad Iqbal)
Pakistan
A local resident looks at a burning Pakistani tanker which was carrying fuel for NATO forces fighting in Afghanistan, after it was allegedly attacked...
A local resident looks at a burning Pakistani tanker which was carrying fuel for NATO forces fighting in Afghanistan, after it was allegedly attacked by militants in an area of Pakistani Khyber tribal region, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Qazi Tariq)
Officials say at least nine militants and four Pakistani soldiers have died in a gunbattle near the Afghan border.
An intelligence official and an army officer say the clash took place Wednesday in the stronghold of a Taliban senior commander in the South Waziristan tribal region. Troops backed by helicopter gunships targeted militant hide-outs in the region.
The officials spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The fighting came two days after two Taliban commanders acknowledged that their chief, Baitullah Mehsud, had died following an Aug. 5 U.S. missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal region.
Taliban members say they have selected Hakimullah Mehsud as the group's new leader.
