PESHAWAR: Fighter jets attacked militant positions in the Orakzai tribal region killing eight militants, DawnNews reported.

The militants were killed when three insurgent hideouts were destroyed in the action in the tribal region on Wednesday.

Assistant political agent Rafiq Mohmand told DawnNews the hideouts were targeted in Upper Orakzai's Arghanju area.

Over 92 per cent of the area in the tribal region has so far been cleared of militants. However, insurgent hideouts still exist in parts of Orakzai.

Orakzai is one of Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in the northwest, where Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants are said to have carved out strongholds.

The area was the original base of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud before he moved to South Waziristan to take up the Taliban leadership after the death of his predecessor, Baituallah Mehsud.

Unlike the six other tribal agencies, Orakzai does not border Afghanistan. The rugged mountainous territory provides a crucial link for militants operating in other tribal regions, as it borders Khyber and Kurram on the Afghan frontier. It also borders Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Pakistan’s main northwestern city, as well as the garrison town of Kohat.