Pakistan Says Air Strikes Kill 20 Militants In Northwest

The Pakistani army says its fighter jets have killed 20 militants in a northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The air strikes were carried out in the Doga Madakhel area of North Waziristan on November 25.

AFP news agency quoted intelligence officials as saying those killed were fighters of the Haqqani terrorist network and of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, the Pakistani Taliban commander in North Waziristan.

The Haqqani network, which is based in Pakistan’s tribal areas, is suspected of being behind the November 23 suicide blast at a volleyball match in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika Province that left 57 people dead.

The Pakistani military says it has cleared 80 percent of North Waziristan of militants since it launched an offensive there in June, using air strikes, artillery, mortar fire, and ground troops.