(Adds comment on violence on Afghan border)

By Haji Mujtaba

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, June 23 (Reuters) - A roadside blast killed three Pakistani paramilitary soldiers and wounded two on Saturday in a tribal region near the Afghan border, a military spokesman said.

In another incident, rockets fired in Afghanistan during fighting between foreign forces and insurgents overnight landed in Pakistan's North Waziristan region.

Residents said 20 people had been killed, but a Pakistani military spokesman said there were no deaths. A local government official said three people were wounded.

The three paramilitary soldiers killed on Saturday were caught up in a blast which hit their patrol 20 km (12 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, where Taliban and al Qaeda militants have been active.

"Soldiers were on a foot petrol when hit by an improvised device near a military checkpoint. It killed three of them," said military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad.

The attack came four days after an apparent missile attack killed 33 militants at a training camp in the region. Military officials said 23 of the dead were of Arab origin.

Intelligence officials said the missiles were possibly fired by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The Pakistani military denied any missiles had been fired and said the militants were killed in an explosion while making bombs.

"BODIES RECOVERED"

Many Taliban and foreign al Qaeda militants fled to North Waziristan after U.S.-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Taliban regime in 2001.

Afghan and U.S. military say the militants direct their intensified insurgency in Afghanistan, and plot violence elsewhere, from sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the border, including in North Waziristan.

Last September, the government struck a peace deal in North Waziristan aimed at marginalising foreign militants but critics said the pact had created a sanctuary for militants.

Nevertheless, the level of violence in North Waziristan has fallen sharply since then, and militant attacks on Pakistani troops have been rare.

Residents of the Shawal area on North Waziristan's border with Afghanistan said fighting had spilled over from Afghanistan late on Friday and 20 people had been killed. Residents described the dead as nomads.

"We have recovered 20 bodies including six members of a family," said resident Wali Mohammad Jhangikhel.

The area is a known route for Taliban infiltrating into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

Military spokesman Arshad said some ordnance had landed on Pakistani territory.

"There were overnight clashes between (U.S.) coalition forces and militants near the border inside Afghanistan and some rockets fell in our area," military spokesman Arshad said.

"We have informed coalition forces and have asked for an explanation," said Arshad. He said no one had been killed.

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