11 more Taliban killed in Pakistan army operation

By Aamir LatifKARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan’s military on Thursday killed 11 suspected Taliban in the restive Khyber Agency tribal region near the Afghan border raising the militants’ death toll to 31 in the last three days, officials said.

The army had launched a fresh aerial operation on Tuesday in the remote Rajgal valley, one of the key mountain routes used by the Taliban to cross the border.

The renewed airstrikes and “synchronized ground operation”, according to the army's media wing -- Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) -- targeted militants' hideouts in Babar Kachkol, Naray Nao, and Tor Sapar areas of the valley.Some eight militants’ hideouts were also destroyed in the fresh aerial strikes, the ISPR added.

The fresh operation has reportedly been launched following a regrouping of militants in the region. Pakistan’s army, which launched a full-scale onslaught on two key tribal areas -- North Waziristan and Khyber Agency -- in June 2014, claims to have cleared militants from 90 percent of the region.

The army claims to have killed over 4,500 suspected militants in the two tribal areas, whereas nearly 500 soldiers have lost their lives in landmine blasts and clashes with the Taliban since June 2014.The operation also displaced nearly 1.5 million tribesmen; of these, 30 percent have returned to their homes.