Peshawar, July 17, SPA -- Pakistani soldiers foughtsuspected militants in a northwestern tribal region nearthe Afghan border, the military said Sunday. Eighteenpeople, including one soldier, died in the clash. Fighting broke out late Saturday when soldiers tried tostop two vehicles at a roadblock during routine securitychecks for suspected militants near Miran Shah, the maintown in North Waziristan. The drivers ignored the order to pull over and gunmeninside fired on the troops, killing one, two militarysources said on condition of anonymity. Soldiers firedback, destroying one of the vehicles with a rocket thatignited ammunition stocks inside. Five people in the othervehicle were detained. A military source in Peshawar, near the Afghan border,said 17 militants were killed. But another army source saidthe dead included two men, and 15 women and children whowere members of the suspects' families, and that theyappeared to be from Kazakhstan. Passports and otherdocuments were seized at the scene. The sources declined to be identified for securityreasons. The Associated Press quoted top army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan as saying that there were casualties, but declined to provide details. He confirmed that some suspects were hit by gunfire when they tried to break out of a military cordon in two vehicles.--SPA1156 Local Time 0856 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/277297