Pak Army launches 'Operation Khyber 1', several militant hideouts destroyed
More than five hundred families have moved to safer places from Khyber Agency.
PESHAWAR (Web Desk / Reuters) – Pakistan s army has launched Operation Khyber 1 in Bara area of Khyber tribal region to eliminate terrorists, Dunya News reported on Friday.
Several militant hideouts in Sipah, Malak Din Khel and Nala areas have been targeted during the operation.
Meanwhile, more than five hundred families have moved to safer places.
Earlier on Thursday, Pakistani fighter jets pounded suspected hideouts of militants in Tirah Valley, killing at least 21 insurgents.
Renewed air strikes come against the backdrop of a broader military offensive in the lawless North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, where the Pakistani army has been battling to contain the insurgency since June.
This week s fighting concentrated around the remote Tirah valley in the region known as the Khyber agency, where TTP militants and their al Qaeda backers from across the mountainous area have been holed up since the start of the operation.
"The militants had established sanctuaries in Sepah and Akakhel and used to target security forces and local tribespeople," said one security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, in a reference to areas of the Khyber region.
Another security official said the dead belonged to Lashkar-e-Islam, an outlawed militant group active in the region.
The army maintains that it conducts air strikes only in response to militant attacks and never targets civilian areas.
