QUETTA, Pakistan, July 21 (Reuters) - Forty-three people were killed in clashes between security forces and militants in a part of Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan where nationalist insurgents have been active, local media reported on Monday.

The News newspaper reported that 33 of the dead were militants and nine were members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the fighting on Sunday in the Dera Bugti area.

The report, sourced to unnamed paramilitary officials, said more than two dozen militants were captured and a large weapons cache was found.

It said security forces were on high alert in Dera Bugti and Sui, the hub for Pakistan's biggest gas field, where ethnic Baluch nationalists have been waging a campaign for greater autonomy.

Reuters obtained similar accounts from unnamed paramilitary and intelligence officials, who requested anonymity, but they had put the death toll at 29, including five Frontier Corps soldiers. (Editing by Alex Richardson)

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