Islambad, Pakistan ? Pakistani troops and drug traffickers clashed Thursday near the Afghan border and five soldiers and six smugglers were killed, an official said. Two soldiers died in a separate roadside bombing.

Maj. Mohammed Haroon said the gunbattle took place near Bramcha village in the southwestern Baluchistan province when the soldiers tried to intercept three sport utility vehicles that entered Pakistan from Afghanistan.

The troops had information that the vehicles were carrying drugs. The drivers opened fire after they were ordered to stop, Haroon said, and the soldiers fired back.

Three soldiers died at the scene and two at a hospital, Haroon said. Two soldiers were wounded.

Haroon said six traffickers were killed and their bodies were taken by their accomplices, who drove back into southwestern Afghanistan.

Separately, a roadside bomb killed two Pakistani soldiers traveling in an army convoy about nine miles east of Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, according to a government official.