US drone strike kills 11 TTP militants in Afghanistan: sources

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A US drone strike killed 11 Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan militants in northeastern Afghanistan, including six or seven senior commanders, intelligence officials said on Wednesday, hours after a strike killed at least nine militants in the same area.

The drone attack, late on Tuesday, was in Kunar province, near the site of fierce fighting on the Pakistani side of the border.

Read: US drone kills 9 Pakistani militants in Afghanistan

Fighter jets have been pounding positions in the Tirah Valley in Khyber region and the Pakistan Army says it has killed scores of militants.

Read: Operation updates: Lashkar-e-Islam spokesperson among 30 militants killed in Tirah airstrikes

At least seven soldiers have also been killed.

Earlier on Tuesday, a drone strike killed nine militants in the Nazyan area of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, to the south of Kunar.

The intelligence officials said the nine belonged to Lashkar-e-Islam, which announced an alliance with the Taliban earlier this month.

No one tracks drone strikes in Afghanistan - many of them take place in remote regions and are not reported - but Taliban commanders say that fighters there have been being increasingly targeted since late last year.

The strikes come amid warming relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, traditionally hostile neighbours who each accuse the other of harbouring insurgents to act as proxy forces.

Relations improved after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was elected last year.

Pakistan says it is supporting potential peace talks between the Afghan government and Afghan Taliban.