Islamabad, September 06: The Pakistani military says its forces have killed more than 60 pro-Taliban militants in an ongoing military operation in the northwestern tribal region of Khyber.
According to the Dawn, unnamed Pakistani military officials said the militants were killed Saturday after Pakistani fighter jets pounded positions belonging to Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in Gogrina and Sandapal areas.
Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps reported that a militant training center and 15 houses believed to have been used by militants were also destroyed in the airstrikes.
Pakistan launched anti-militant operation in Khyber Agency –the main border crossing for NATO and US supply convoys to Afghanistan– last week following a bomb attack at a checkpoint in the region which killed 19 security officers.
“It will continue till we achieve our objective and restore the writ of government,” Khyber’s top government official Tariq Hayat Khan said adding that since the start of the operation 43 militants had been captured.
Pro-Taliban militants frequently attack supply trucks traveling between Pakistan and Afghanistan and Islamabad is under intense US pressure to crack down on militants in the border region.
—–Agencies