LANDI KOTAL: At least eight suspected militants were killed when air force planes hit their positions in the Tirah valley of the Khyber tribal region on Tuesday.

According to official sources, the strikes were carried out in the Kukikhel locality, near the Afghan border.

Several suspected hideouts of militants were destroyed, the officials said.

There was, however, no word about the identity of those killed in the air strikes or their affiliation with any militant group.

The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and Mangal Bagh’s Lashkar-i-Islam had a strong presence in the area.

The forces claimed to have flushed out militants from the tribal region as a result of Operation Khyber-2, which had been wrapped up on June 15 last year.

But the government had made it clear that air strikes would continue in the region if it got reports of infiltration from Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn November 30th, 2016