Seven militants killed in Tirah air strikes

BARA: Seven suspected militants were killed and several others sustained injuries when the Pakistan Air Force jet fighters targeted their hideouts in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency, official sources said on Monday.

The sources said the jet fighters attacked the hideouts of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Islam (LI)-affiliated militants in the Rajgal area in Kukikhel tribal territory in the remote Tirah Valley.

Three hideouts were also destroyed in the bombardment, official sources said.The “Operation Khyber 3” was launched in August in this year after completion of Operation Khyber 1 & 2 near the Pak-Afghan border to strengthen the troops’ deployment in Rajgal to check and guard against terrorists’ movement.

A ground offensive was also carried out in Rajgal and Sattar Killi areas of Tirah in August.Most of the Bara-based militant organisations took refuge in the far-off Tirah Valley after a military operation was launched against them in Bara and Jamrud tehsils in Khyber Agency in 2014.