Pakistani army air raids kill 17 pro-Taliban militants

Pakistani fighter jets have bombed militant positions in the country’s rugged northwestern tribal region close to the border with Afghanistan, killing at least 17 pro-Taliban militants, Press TV reported.

Pakistani security sources said the airstrikes were carried out in the militant-infested Shawal district of the North Waziristan tribal region on Friday.

A senior local security official said that Pakistani military aircraft destroyed militant hideouts during the aerial attacks in the thick mountainous forests in the Wareka Mandi area, located 65 kilometers west of the regional capital, Miranshah.

"The air force jets pounded the areas close to the Afghan border in thick forests and killed at least 17 militants. Three compounds and five vehicles were also destroyed in the action," a senior security official in Miranshah said.

The tribal regions on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan have been a hideout for Takfiri militant groups, including al-Qaeda and the pro-Taliban militants, during the past years. The militants use the mountainous border area to launch attacks in both countries.