Pakistani troops backed by tanks and fighter jets Thursday killed as many as 100 militants in a restive north-western tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said. Pakistani forces have for weeks been targeting militant positions in Bajaur tribal region in a major operation that has seen more than 600 killed - most of them militants - and more than 260,000 people displaced.
"We launched strikes against militant hideouts in Bajaur and destroyed several compounds they were using," a security official, who asked not to be identified, told AFP. "According to the latest information from the area, between 80 and 100 militants were killed," he said, noting that the figure was based on intelligence intercepts of militant communications.
The official said the strikes were launched after the rebels ambushed a security patrol near the town of Inayat Kili. A market used by the militants for cover was entirely destroyed. Earlier, a security official told AFP that an office of the outlawed terrorist outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had also been destroyed.
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