Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships killed 60 Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants near the Afghan border, just days after the Marriott Hotel was bombed, officials said Tuesday. Clashes erupted with Islamist fighters near the troubled northwestern city of Peshawar, where a soldier was also killed, and separately in the volatile tribal frontier region of Bajaur, they said. In northern Swat, another hub of unrest, at least five people were killed in police firing and three bank branches burnt in rioting by a mob protesting this week's killing of three children allegedly in mortar attack by security forces. Pakistan's new civilian government vowed at the weekend to crack down on militant "hotspots" in the wake of Saturday's devastating suicide attack on the hotel in Islamabad, in which at least 60 people died. In the biggest battle, troops on Monday launched a "search and cordon" operation to clear extremists from a strategic road tunnel and other hideouts in Dara Adam Khel, a restive region just outside Peshawar, the army said.