By Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD
The Pakistan army claimed killing 25 more Taliban militants in fresh airstrikes while two soldiers were killed in fresh air strikes and clashes in troubled North Waziristan on Monday in the 9th day of an ongoing military offensive, raising the total number of deaths to 289, officials said.
The army’s representative, Inter Services Public Relations, said that six militant hideouts have also been destroyed in air strikes in different parts of Miranshah -- the administrative headquarters of the North Waziristan Agency and in the town of Mir Ali.
The army launched a full-scale operation in North Waziristan on June 15 to root out the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) after peace talks between the two sides collapsed last April following an end to a 40-day long ceasefire between the security forces and the insurgent network.
According to the disaster management authority of the federally administered tribal areas, some 400,000 out of a total population of 800,000 in North Waziristan have already moved to other parts of the country, including neighboring Afghanistan. The authority expects that the number of internally displaced persons may reach as many as 500,000 in the near future.
The army seeks the evacuation of tribesmen to launch a ground operation in the urban parts of the region in the upcoming days.
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