By Haji Mujtaba

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces killed 10 pro-Taliban militants on Wednesday after they attacked a military checkpost in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, an army spokesman said.

Militant attacks on Pakistani security forces have surged since July, following the collapse of a pact and the storming of a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad, by commandos.

The violence has reinforced opposition among many Pakistanis to army chief and president Pervez Musharraf's support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism. Musharraf is preparing to seek a new term in office in an election on Saturday.

Two paramilitary soldiers were also killed in the pre-dawn attack on the checkpost in Spinwarm area, 35 km (25 miles) northeast of the region's main town of Miranshah.

"The fighting started early and ended at around 4.00 in the morning," said military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said. The militants took away their dead, he said.

The attack came two days after militants killed two paramilitary soldiers and captured 22 in an attack on a checkpost near the northwestern town of Bannu, a gateway to North Waziristan.

Militants in neighbouring South Waziristan are still holding about 225 soldiers captured at the end of August.

North and South Waziristan are hotbeds of support for the Taliban and al Qaeda militants, who fled to the region after U.S.-led forces toppled the radical Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Many Pakistanis say Musharraf is merely doing the bidding of the United States and unnecessarily stirring up militant violence in ethnic Pashtun areas bordering Afghanistan.

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