Forcing the issue: Airstrikes kill 31 terrorists in NWA, Khyber Agency

Hideouts of militants were also destroyed during the operation

Army action near the border with Afghanistan in Khyber Agency and North Waziristan on Wednesday killed as many as 31 terrorists, while their hideouts were also destroyed.

According to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), airstrikes in Khyber agency targeting hideouts and compounds of militants in Tirah Valley left 14 terrorists dead. Five militants were injured while five hideouts were destroyed.

At least 17 terrorists were killed in Shawal area of North Waziristan, while four terror dens were destroyed.

On Tuesday, a drone had targeted a compound in Karwanda area of Shawal, killing at least five suspected militants.

The army had on August 20 announced that it was launching a ground operation in Shawal, having pounded it for days through aerial strikes.

Seven days later, when Army Chief General Raheel Sharif visited troops on the front lines, the military said that as many as 203 terrorists had been killed in the operation so far.

The army chief had “directed troops to comprehensively cleanse terrorists from their hideouts, reduce isolated terrorists to their size and sever their link with their abettors anywhere.”

“We will not allow anyone to kill our people, children in the country and will expose all faces involved,” Bajwa quoted the army chief as saying in one of his tweets.