ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Pakistani army on Saturday killed 30 more insurgents in fresh air strikes in troubled North Waziristan and Khyber Agency regions, raising the total number of Taliban casualties to 262 in the last seven days.
The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), an army mouthpiece, said that fighter jets struck militant hideouts in different parts of North Waziristan and Khyber Agency -- the two semi-autonomous tribal areas and hotbeds of militancy -- in early morning assaults.
“30 militants have been killed in fresh air strikes," the ISPR said.
The army launched a much-demanded onslaught on June 15 after peace talks between the government and the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) collapsed in April.
The failure of the peace talks led to brazen attacks on security forces, including the Karachi airport attack on June 5 which killed 30 people including the ten attackers.
The stop-start peace talks began in January but collapsed after the TTP ended its 40-day-long ceasefire with security forces in April.
According to Federally Administered Tribal Areas disaster management officials, around 250,000 tribesmen have migrated from various parts of North Waziristan.
They said over 6,000 of the displaced had crossed into neighboring Afghanistan.
Authorities fear the migration figures may increase to 500,000 in coming days.
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