27 militants killed in military air strikes and encounters

Islamabad/karachi — Pakistan’s military said on Tuesday it had killed 15 militants in air strikes along its restive border with Afghanistan on Tuesday as part of a major offensive to clear Taleban and Al Qaeda strongholds.

The strikes were carried out in the Alwara, Khar Tangi and Maizer areas of North Waziristan’s tribal region, the bastion of militants who have killed thousands of innocent people in terror attacks across Pakistan. Pakistan began its operation in June 2014, after a bloody Tale- ban attack on Karachi airport finally sank faltering peace talks earlier that year.

“Fifteen terrorists were killed and eight of their hideouts destroyed in the aerial strikes today,” the military said in a brief statement.

Meanwhile, police on Monday killed at least 12 militants involved in target killings and attacks on officers in the southern port city of Karachi, an official said.

Police raided a house where the militants were hiding out in Pipri district, some 50km from central Karachi, triggering a gunbattle which lasted more than two hours.

Two policemen were wounded in the exchange, officials said.

Rao Anwar, a senior police official who led the raid told reporters that the militants belonged to Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent and the Laskhar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) group.

“(They) were involved in target killings and attacks on police,” Anwar said. Police recovered explosive material, bomb making devices, assault rifles and suicide vests, he added.