Military says shootout kills 2 Pakistani Taliban commanders

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s military says security forces have killed two local Pakistani Taliban commanders in a shootout in a former militant stronghold in the country’s northwest. It says the militants were killed on Tuesday in North Waziristan, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group from the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan who took over that country last August, though the two are allies. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban to step up attacks on Pakistani forces, raising fears the insurgents are regrouping.