Suspected Militants Killed in Pakistan Airstrikes

Pakistani fighter planes have been bombing militant hideouts in Shawal for almost a week, killing scores of insurgents, according to military officials.

“Ground operations in Shawal, Waziristan, begin”, the Inter-Services Pulic Relations (ISPR) spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa announced via Twitter on Thursday night. General Raheel Sharif applauded the coordination between ground and land forces and said that their performance is commendable.

“These aerial attacks killed 43 militants, including 15 in Shawal and 28 in Datta Khel”, he said. Army claims that more than 1,600 militants have been killed in the operation.

Under pressure from the Afghan government and the United States, Pakistan’s military launched a large-scale air and ground offensive in the Waziristan area in June 2014, dubbed as Zarb-e-Azb.

Pakistani security officials said almost 2,900 militants have been killed so far, as the military has successfully cleared more than 90 percent of North Waziristan of militants, Shanghai Daily reported.

Air strikes in Bannu killed at least 24 suspected militants hiding in their north-western hideouts on Monday, claim…

Meanwhile, security forces also had a clash with militants in the neighbouring South Waziristan’s Asman Panga area of Lahda subdivision, where they killed 12 militants.