Jet planes bomb hideouts in North, South Waziristan killing 30 militants

PESHAWAR: Jet planes bombed militant hideouts on Tuesday in South and North Waziristan killing at least 30 militants, according to military officials, Express News reported. Fighter jets have been pounding targets in the region since the government’s efforts to engage Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in peace negotiations broke down this month. North Waziristan residents have been trickling out of the troubled region in recent days anticipating a full-scale military offensive, leaving their homes and villages behind and settling in more peaceful areas such as Bannu, Kohat and Peshawar. “The death toll from the airstrikes has risen to 30,” a security official in Peshawar told AFP. “The militants had captured a stretch between South Waziristan and North Waziristan and had established training centres where they were also preparing suicide bombers,” one official told Reuters. “Fifteen were killed in South Waziristan side of the border, while 12 killed in North Waziristan,” the official said earlier today. Express News reported that the airstirkes mainly took place in Datta Khel and Shawal areas of North Waziristan where militant training facilities and compounds are said to be located. It was impossible to verify how many civilians might have been killed or wounded in the attacks. The early morning attack on hideouts in the North and South Waziristan tribal districts were the fourth in a series of airstrikes. Previous bombings On February 23, air strikes were carried out in the remote Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in which security forces claimed to have killed at least 38 militants, including key commanders. Six hideouts were also destroyed, they had added. Just a day before that, on February 22, security forces had carried out shelling on militant hideouts in Thall sub-district of Hangu, killing at least nine insurgents. While on February 19, at least 30 suspected insurgents were killed and several others injured as military jets and gunships had bombed their hideouts in the North Waziristan and Khyber agencies.