Officials say that military airstrikes have killed 61 suspected militants in an area near the Afghan border, including dozens at a seminary where Taliban commanders were believed to be meeting. The jet fire rained in two spells during the day in the Mamuzai area of Orakzai Thursday, a tribal region where many Pakistani Taliban leaders are believed to have fled to avoid an army ground offensive further south.
Alongside the religious seminary, a mosque and a school were targeted, local official Samiullah Orakzai said. He said all 61 were suspected militants, however, independent confirmation of the death toll or the victims' identities was nearly impossible because access to the tribal region is restricted.