Pakistani volunteers carry suicide car bomb victim to hospital in Peshawar, 10 Nov 2009

A landmine explosion and a militant ambush killed at least 10 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border Wednesday.

Pakistani officials say at least eight paramilitary soldiers died and two were wounded when they drove over a landmine while on a routine patrol in the northwestern Mohmand district.

Hours earlier, a large group of Taliban militants ambushed a military convoy in the same district, killing two soldiers and abducting 10 others.

Pakistani helicopter gunships responded by shelling militant hideouts in the area, killing at least 10 suspected militants.

The incidents took place a day after a suicide car bomber killed more than 30 people and wounded around 100 others in a crowded market in the northwestern city of Charsadda, north of Peshawar.

The Pakistani leadership condemned the attack, while a Taliban spokesman said the militants are waging a guerrilla war from the South Waziristan tribal region where the military is continuing an anti-Taliban offensive.