Army airstrike leaves 15 militants killed in NW Pakistan

At least 15 militants were killed when Pakistani army launched missile strikes in the country's northwest tribal area of North Waziristan on Saturday, local Urdu media said.

Dawn News reported that the troops backed by jet fighters from Pakistan Air Force pounded four militants' hideouts in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, a restive tribal area along Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Identities of the killed militants have not been revealed yet, but North Waziristan Agency is believed to be a hotbed of outlawed group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan activity.

Saturday's airstrikes are continuation of the military operation in North Waziristan Agency.

Aiming at the eradication of local and foreign militants from the volatile North Waziristan agency, the armed offensive called "Zarb-e-Azb" (an Urdu name for the strike of Islamic prophet's sword) was launched on June 15, 2014.

In an earlier statement, Asim Bajwa, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations, the army's media wing, said that a total of 3,400 militants have been killed in the operation so far.

He said that the military has also destroyed 837 hideouts of the militants which has broken their backbone and dismantled their network.

The country's army chief General Raheel Sharif visited North Waziristan earlier on Wednesday where he gave a go-ahead for the initiation of the final phase of the operation.

He was briefed that deep forested ravines of the Datta Khel and neighboring Shawal area are frequently used as infiltration routes used by the militants.

The last phase of the operation aims to clear the last remnants of the militants from their hideouts in the forested ravines and destroy them in detail, while also cut their links to their abettors across the country. Endit