At least 25 suspected militants were killed early on Tuesday as F-16 jets bombed militant hideouts in the Tirah valley in Khyber Agency, military sources said. Military jets targeted nine suspected insurgent hideouts in various parts of the Kokikhel area in Tirah valley, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed.
Pakistani fighter jets have been pounding targets in Fata for the past couple of weeks. The air strikes are the latest in a succession of such attacks carried out by the Pakistani military in the tribal belt this year. The last were carried out in North Waziristan in late May, killing at least 75 people and causing some 58,000 people to flee from the tribal agency in fear of a fuller ground offensive that has been anticipated for years. Khyber Agency itself was targeted previously in April in aerial bombing that killed 37 people.