18 insurgents killed in Pakistan

Pakistani security forces killed 18 Taliban militants on Thursday in Bajaur region, Pakistan’s Dawn news reported. Pakistan’s military has launched a series of offensives against the Taliban over the past few years in Bajaur and other parts of the ethnic Pashtun tribal belt in the north-west near the Afghan border. On Wednesday, Taliban militants attacked an army post and killed eight soldiers in the South Waziristan tribal region. Military sources said four soldiers have been killed in the Bajaur fighting and several went missing. Pakistan has said military operations have severely weakened the militants, and their fighters have been cleared out of Bajaur and other regions along the porous border.