Pakistan targets fighters in tribal region
At least 18 fighters killed as army jets bombs armed groups’ hideouts and ammunition stockpiles in Khyber border region.
Pakistan’s army says its jets have killed at least 18 fighters as part of an ongoing offensive to eliminate armed groups’ hideouts and ammunition stockpiles in the Khyber tribal region.
An army statement on Sunday said the jets destroyed five such hideouts with “precise strikes” during the offensive late Saturday night.
Besides the fighters killed, the army said the strikes destroyed huge caches of arms and ammunition hidden in various parts of the region, near the Afghan border.
The Pakistani army is now regularly targeting rebel hideouts in Khyber region, since fighters fled there from North Waziristan tribal region where it has been conducting military operation since mid-June.
The offensive has also driven thousands of local tribesmen to leave their areas and head for safety in the main northwestern city of Peshawar.