Pak air strikes kill 21 militants

Pakistan's military yesterday said it had killed 21 militants in air strikes in a restive tribal district near the Afghan border, a region where it has been battling Islamist groups for more than a decade.

The attacks took place early morning in the Tirah valley of Khyber district, where the Taliban and another banned militant group, Lashkar-e-Islam, have taken refuge, the military said in a statement.

Pakistan has been battling Islamist groups in its semi-autonomous tribal belt since 2004 after its army entered the region to search for Al-Qaeda fighters that had fled across the border following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

In June, the army began an operation in the North Waziristan agency after a bloody raid on Karachi Airport ended faltering peace talks between the government and militants.

North Waziristan is a major base for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistani Taliban), which began it's campaign against the state in 2007.