PESHAWAR: Thirteen suspected militants were killed when military planes shelled their hideouts in North Waziristan Agency on Wednesday.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the air strikes were carried out in the suburbs of Mirali town. It claimed that 13 terrorists had been killed and five hideouts destroyed.

The ISPR said that 12 militants had surrendered to security forces in the area.

This is the first time since the launch of “Operation Zerb-i-Azb” in North Waziristan that militants have surrendered to troops.

Security forces are repor­ted to have set up ‘surrender centres’ in the conflict zone.

The army, meanwhile, sent reinforcements to the troubled area on Wednesday and long columns of military tru­cks were seen going towards Waziristan from Bannu.

A curfew was imposed in the Frontier Region Baka­kh­el between North Waziris­tan and settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2014