Pakistani airstrikes kill 11 militants near Afghan border
Pakistani helicopter gunships and fighter jets yesterday pounded militant hideouts in a tribal region near the Afghan border, killing 11 rebels, a security official said.
The attacks took place in the Bajaur region, where Pakistani troops and militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban have been engaged in fierce fighting since August.
"Jets and gunships bombarded miscreants today in several areas. Eleven militants were killed and 10 others wounded," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP.
There was no independent confirmation of the toll.
On Monday Pakistani helicopter gunships, fighter jets and artillery pounded militant hideouts in a Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan, killing 12 rebels, officials said.
The strikes were carried out at militants' hideouts across Bajaur, where Pakistani troops and Islamic extremists have been locked in fierce fighting since August.
"Pakistani helicopter gunships, jet fighters and artillery hit militants' hideouts, killing 12 militants and wounding more than a dozen others," a senior security official told AFP.
Local administration official Mohammad Jamil confirmed the deaths of 12 Taliban fighters in Monday's offensive.
The United Nations refugee agency recently said almost 190,000 people had been displaced from Bajaur since fighting began.
Pakistan army said in late September that more than 1,000 militants including al-Qaeda's operational commander in the region, Egyptian Abu Saeed Al-Masri, have been killed in its offensive in Bajaur.
The US and Afghan governments say Islamic militants use the remote border areas of Pakistan to launch attacks on US-led and Nato troops deployed in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's tribal regions have been wracked by violence since thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels fled to the country after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Earlier on Monday, Pakistani forces killed up to 35 militants near the Afghan border.
Pakistani soldiers are battling militants on three fronts in the northwest of the country. In the past, the government has tried unsuccessfully to make peace deals with the insurgents, drawing criticism from the United States.
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