KALAYA, March 2: Seventeen militants were killed and 13 injured on Friday after jetfighters pounded their hideouts in several parts of Upper Orakzai tehsil.

According to local political administration and security forces, jetfighters targeted militant positions in Akhun Kot, Bilrass and Chappar areas of Manozai at around 12:00 noon.

They claimed that 17 militants, including two key commanders, were killed and 13 wounded, while five of their hideouts were destroyed in the bombings.

However, local spokesman for Tehrik-i-Taliban Hafeez Saeed denied killings and said not a single fighter of his group was killed in the attacks. He told reporters from an undisclosed location on telephone that jetfighters bombed houses already vacated by Taliban.

Also in the day, local political administration arrested four elders of Bulandkhel tribe in Ismailzai and sent them to jail under the Collective Territorial Responsibility Act.

Ali Annan Qamar, an official of the administration, said the arrested men were Malak Rafiullah, Malak Muhabat Ali Khan, Malka Inayatullah Jan and Malak Roshan Khan. —Correspondent