23 militants killed in NWA, Khyber air strikes

MIRANSHAH/BARA: The military authorities on Sunday claimed to have killed 23 militants, some of them foreigners, in air strikes in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency.
In a statement issued to the media, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) claimed the killings, but it did not mention exactly where the militants’ sanctuaries were targeted in the two tribal agencies.
It also didn’t disclose the identity of the local and foreign militants killed in the air strikes.“Twenty-three terrorists, including foreigners, were killed in areas close to the Pak-Afghan border in Khyber and North Waziristan agencies in aerial strikes.
A huge ammunition dump was also blown up in strikes in Khyber Agency,” the statement said.After the Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched last year on June 15 against local and foreign militants in North Waziristan, the military authorities have claimed to have killed hundreds of militants and cleared the majority of areas of this troubled tribal region.
The military has also seized huge amounts of explosives and weapons. The military action displaced around one million tribal people who have been demanding permission to return to their homes and villages in North Waziristan.
Some displaced families were repatriated to their villages in the Mir Ali area in March and April, but the process has slowed down since then.Recently, the displaced people staged protests in Bannu and Peshawar demanding a return to their homes.
Agencies add: Two intelligence officials, who declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak on the record, said the latest air strikes occurred in the Zoinari area of North Waziristan.
“We received information that local and foreign fighters were hiding in this area,” said one of the officials. “Seven hideouts were also completely destroyed.”Initially, 10 militants were reported killed but the intelligence officials later raised the toll to 23.