Fighter jets killed 17 militants Friday in airstrikes carried out in the remote tribal belt near the Afghan border, the military said in a statement. The strikes in the Rajgal area of the Khyber tribal district also destroyed four militant hideouts and an ammunition dump, it said. "Seventeen terrorists including some foreigners were killed in the aerial strikes in the remote area of Rajgal," a brief military statement said.
The strikes were part of a major offensive aimed at clearing Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds that began last year in North Waziristan, one of seven tribal districts bordering Afghanistan. The conflict zone is remote and off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to verify the army's claims, including the number and identity of those killed.
The military began the offensive in Khyber in October 2014, carrying out air strikes and using artillery, mortars and ground troops. The army then intensified and expanded its offensive after the Taliban massacred more than 150 people, the majority of them children, at a school in Peshawar last December.
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