46 militants killed in Khyber, Kurram

BARA: Forty-six militants were killed in operations by security forces in the Khyber and Kurram tribal agencies on Wednesday.
Thirty militants were killed and several others sustained injuries when Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter aircraft and helicopters pounded their hideouts in Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the fighter aircraft and helicopters targeted the bunkers of the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in Kukikhel, Sepah, Kamarkhel and Shalobar areas in Tirah Valley.
“Many hideouts of the militants and two arms depots also came under bombardment,” said the ISPR.According to some reports, the LI spokesman, Salahuddin Ayubi, was also killed in the air strikes.
Security forces have been carrying out the Operation Khyber-2 under which air strikes and artillery shelling is being carried out on the militants’ hideouts in Sandapal, Khyber Sangar, Dars Jumaat, Sandana, Sokh and Nari Baba areas in the volatile lower parts of Tirah Valley where security forces are reportedly continuing their advancement and now control many militants bunkers on the mountain tops.
“The tribal people of the upper Tirah Valley, where security forces evicted the militants two years ago, including Malikdinkhel, Shalobar, Zakhakhel, Adamkhel and Bar Qambarkhel are in a scary situation as security forces are using heavy weapons at various populated areas in Maidan Bagh and Sramela against the militants,” said a local resident.
Our Parachinar correspondent adds: Sixteen militants were killed in military action after a soldier was killed in a roadside blast in Kurram Agency on Wednesday, official sources said.
The sources said that the soldier, identified as Bilal Mohmand, was killed when a vehicle of security forces was targeted with an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Shabak area in lower parts of the Kurram Agency.
Security forces, the sources said, cordoned off the area after the incident and launched a massive search operation along the border with Afghanistan.The official sources said 16 militants were killed in the artillery shelling on the hideouts of militants in the area.