PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of Taliban fighters crossed Saturday from an area of eastern Afghanistan largely abandoned by American troops and killed more than two dozen soldiers and police officers in northwest Pakistan, officials in Pakistan said.

It was the latest in a series of attacks that have raised tensions among Pakistani, Afghan and United States officials. Afghan officials said that the raids did not come from their side of the border.

At least 200 militants crossed into Chitral District — where militant violence has been rare — on Saturday morning and attacked seven checkpoints run by Pakistan’s Frontier Corps, the paramilitary troops in the northwest tribal areas. Two of the checkpoints were overrun, the Pakistani military said.

There were conflicting reports about the numbers of Pakistani security forces and militants killed.

The Pakistani military said 25 paramilitary soldiers and police officers and 20 militants were killed in the fighting. But a local police official, Nizam Khan, gave the toll as 38 soldiers and police officers and nine militants.