The army killed 40 militants in an air strike that targeted a rebel stronghold in the troubled Swat region, a military spokesman said on Saturday. Fighter jets bombed hideouts in Peochar valley, a stronghold of top Taliban cleric Mullah Fazlullah on Friday.
Officials earlier said 22 rebels were killed in the operation, but army spokesman Major Nasir Ali, quoting local sources, revised the figure upward on Saturday to 40, including two senior Fazlullah commanders.
Local officials said Fazlullah, who since 2007 has been leading a violent campaign to enforce hard-line Islamic Sharia law in the mountainous Swat region, escaped the attack, but his group suffered massive damage. Ali said the group's "core militants" were killed and its communication network destroyed in the operation, one of the bloodiest raids since the army launched the offensive after peace negotiations with local tribes failed.
Troops backed by helicopter gunships and heavy artillery have for weeks been pounding militant positions in Swat, a former tourist spot. Fazlullah is also known as Mullah Radio for using an illegal FM channel to disseminate the Taliban's agenda.