PESHAWAR: At least 20 suspected militants were killed and several others injured early on Sunday as jet fighters targeted alleged hideouts in Bara tehsil of Khyber tribal region. Artillery and mortar fire supported the air strikes.

The areas targeted were said to be the main operational terror centers of the banned outfits.

Official sources say that the militants’ hideouts in Sipah, Malakdin Khel, Nalan Sur Kas areas of Bara were targeted in the fresh attacks, in which five militant hideouts were destroyed. None of this information could be independently verified however, given restrictions on access to the restive region.

Recently, a clash took place in the Sipah area of Bara tehsil with Operation Khyber I (Khyber one) underway in the region. The operation was formally launched earlier this month. Sources had told Dawn earlier that Khyber I's main aim was to clear the areas lying from Bara up to the border of Tirah valley, following which a second phase of the operation would be launched.

Scores of families have been moving to safer places as the offensive against militant groups is picking up.

Khyber is among Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal districts near the Afghan border, rife with homegrown insurgents and foreign militants. These are also home to religious extremist organisations including Al Qaeda.

The plains of Bara hold strategic significance for militant groups as they connect the agency to the outskirts of Peshawar. The area was being used by militants to put pressure on the provincial capital. In recent weeks, police and military posts in and around Peshawar have come under attack.

The key area also straddles the Nato supply line into Afghanistan.

Khyber also links several agencies to each other, serving as a north-south route within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). The region has been long fought over by a mix of militant organisations, including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Ansarul Islam and Mangal Bagh’s Lashkar-i-Islam.

In June the army began an offensive against militant hideouts in the North Waziristan tribal agency after a bloody raid on Karachi Airport ended faltering peace talks between the government and the Taliban.

North Waziristan is a major base for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

The United States has long called for action against militant groups in North Waziristan, who have used the area as a staging post for attacks against NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's army says it has killed more than a thousand militants and lost 86 soldiers since the start of the operation.

But the toll and identity of those killed is difficult to verify because journalists do not have regular access to the conflict zones.