(MENAFN- Arab Times) Pakistani air strikes on Sunday killed 23 militants including foreigners in the country's restive tribal regions near the Afghan border, the military said, part of a major ongoing operation against the Taliban. The attacks took place in areas close to the border with Afghanistan in Khyber and North Waziristan tribal districts. "(A) huge ammunition dump was also blown up during the strikes in Khyber," the military said in a statement, without giving the identities of those killed or who they fought for. Khyber is a known stronghold for militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban and its Lashkar-e-Islam faction.
The area is remote and off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to verify the army's claims. The military began an offensive in Khyber in October 2014, carrying out air strikes and using artillery, mortars and ground troops. Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for over a decade following the late 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan. In June last year it launched a major campaign against Taliban and other militant strongholds in the North Waziristan tribal area. Authorities have vowed to intensify operations to take back territory both in the border regions and other parts of the country. The military says it has killed more than 2,700 militants since the launch of the offensive a year ago.
Meanwhile, one soldier was killed and three wounded when a checkpoint near the Shawal area of North Waziristan came under rocket attack on Sunday, security officials said, taking the Pakistani military's death toll during the operation to 348. Since last month, the military has stepped up operations in Shawal Valley, where the Taliban still operates freely. The area is a stronghold of Khan "Sajna" Said, the leader of a Taliban faction whose name was added to a sanctions list of "specially designated global terrorists" by US authorities last year. Most phone lines to the area have been cut and military roadblocks curtail civilian movement.
The Pakistani Taliban mainly fight against the government in Islamabad and are separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban that ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s before being expelled in a US-led intervention. Meanwhile, a Pakistani police officer says authorities have killed four militants, arrested two and seized a large cache of weapons that were meant to be used in an upcoming attack. Senior police officer Shahzad Sultan says a militant exploded a suicide vest during the raid Monday on a house near the eastern city of Lahore, injuring nine officers. Sultan says a search turned up six suicide vests, dozens of hand grenades, assault rifles and other weapons.The raid was carried out jointly with intelligence officials. The police official said the militants were planning to target important buildings in Lahore during the current Ramadan holiday, which lasts almost three more weeks. "We had intelligence information about presence of suspected militants in a house and when a police party was sent there, the suspects opened fire at them," provincial home minister Shuja Khanzada told AFP.
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