PESHAWAR - Five militants, three of them wearing suicide bomb vests, were killed on Tuesday when they attacked a military training centre in northwest Pakistan, officials said.

The armed attackers tried to enter the training ground in the northwestern town of Mardan and a gun battle with security forces ensued, leaving all five militants dead and four soldiers wounded, a senior security official told AFP.

"An attack on the Punjab regiment centre in Mardan was averted this morning by security forces," the official said.

"Five militants including three suicide attackers were killed when they tried to enter the training area. Four soldiers were injured," the official said.

Another security official and intelligence officials confirmed the incident and death toll.

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban militants have been active in the area and have carried out several attacks on government and military targets in the past.

Bombs and attacks blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have killed more than 3,560 people across nuclear-armed Pakistan since government troops besieged a radical mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.

Much of the violence has been concentrated in northwest Pakistan and the border areas with Afghanistan, where around 143,000 US and NATO troops are battling to turn around a nine-year war against Taliban insurgents.

BDST: 1204 HRS, July 20, 2010