Pakistani army airstrikes leave 20 militants dead
Iran Press TV
Sat Jun 13, 2015 10:10AM
At least 20 suspected pro-Taliban militants have been killed in the Pakistani army's air raids in a restive northwestern tribal region close to the country's border with Afghanistan.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Pakistani military said the casualties came in the airstrikes on the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan.
The militants' hideouts were completely destroyed as Pakistani fighter jets pounded the region, the statement added.
The tribal regions on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan have been a hideout for Takfiri militant groups, including al-Qaeda and the pro-Taliban militants, over the past years.
The Pakistani army started an operation against militants' hideouts in North Waziristan last summer, after a deadly raid on the Karachi International Airport ended the government's faltering peace talks with the pro-Taliban militants.
The army says more than 1,300 militants have been killed in North Waziristan since launching the June 15, 2014 operation while 90 percent of the region has been cleared of militants.
Islamabad intensified its anti-terror campaign after a December 16, 2014 attack on an army-run school in the city of Peshawar, which left some 150 people dead.
This is while Taliban militants are widely believed to be receiving support from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Violence has been increasing in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt following the 2001 US-led invasion of neighboring Afghanistan.
SSM/MKA/.HRB
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