BARA: Twenty-one militants were killed when Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jet fighters pounded their hideouts in the Khyber Agency near the Pak-Afghan border, official sources said on Thursday. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that the jet fighters pounded the hideouts of the militants aligned with the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Islam-led by Mangal Bagh in the Kukikhel-inhabited Rajgal area in Tirah Valley. The official said that 21 militants were killed in the bombing, adding that several suspected hideouts of militants were also destroyed in the air strikes.It was a major offensive against the militants in the Kukikhel area in the Tirah Valley after a lull of one month. Agencies add: A number of terrorists were killed during strikes by the Pakistan-made Buraq drone in the South Waziristan Agency on Thursday. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), it was the first night strike by Buraq with pinpoint accuracy. The military successfully tested Buraq and test-fired its laser-guided missile Barq (lightning) in March this year.Pakistan had been demanding armed drone and laser-guided missile technology from the United States, which has been running a controversial drone programme against militants’ hideouts in the northwestern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan since 2004. Pakistan officially opposes the missile strikes by the US drones, terming them a violation of its territorial sovereignty and has long asked the US to give them the technology required to run her own programme. The army has been battling terror groups in its semi-autonomous tribal belt since 2003, but stepped up its fight last June when it launched a major military offensive Zarb-e-Azb against militancy and terrorism in the country.
