Air strikes on Saturday killed at least 11 militants in a new offensive against foreign fighters in Orakzai, officials said. A paramilitary spokesman told AFP the 11 militants were killed in attacks on three places in Orakzai district and a local tribal administration official confirmed the death toll.
It was not immediately clear if there were any foreign militants among the dead, but on Friday 32 militants and five soldiers were killed in the heaviest battle against Arab, Afghan and Uzbek fighters. Troops on Wednesday expanded their campaign against Taliban militants believed to have fled a major offensive in South Waziristan last year by launching an assault to eradicate them from neighbouring Orakzai.
In a separate incident, militants early Saturday blew up a boys middle school in Alingarh village of Mohmand tribal district, where troops are also hunting Taliban rebels, local administration chief Amjad Ali Khan said. "The school was destroyed in the bombing, but there were no casualties," Khan told AFP.
Militants blew up another boys primary school early Saturday in Khyber, a lawless tribal district bordering Afghanistan, local administration chief Shafeerullah Wazir told AFP, but there were no casualties. Separately police on Saturday found the bodies of six truck drivers who were kidnapped a few days ago in a restive north-western town.
The bodies of the six, who had been shot dead, were found in Thal district, local police official Abdul Rehman told AFP. "A letter found in the pocket of one dead truck driver said that if anyone supplied goods to the Parachinar Shiite community, he will be treated like this," Rehman said.