Pakistani troops report gains

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — Pakistani soldiers are closing in on two major Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan, officials said Saturday.

The army said it had sealed off the key Taliban stronghold of Sararogha on three sides and had reached the outskirts of Makeen, which it called “the nerve center” of the Pakistani Taliban.

Seven paramilitary soldiers driving through the Khyber tribal area were killed Saturday by a roadside bomb planted by suspected Taliban militants, said local official Ghulam Farooq Khan.

That attack came as Pakistani jets bombed three hide-outs of local Taliban leader Hakimullah Mahsud in the Orakzai tribal region, killing at least eight militants and wounding several others, intelligence officials said.