Peshawar: Pakistan army jets and helicopters targeted militant hide-outs near the Afghan border, killing 60 people identified as insurgents or their family members, including children, security officials and a witness said yesterday.
The deadliest strikes hit an area where army fire had killed 60 civilians earlier this year.
Accounts of civilian casualties in army airstrikes make it harder for the military to win the support of local tribesman in the border region, something crucial to flushing out Al Qaida and Taliban militants who have found sanctuary there.
The attacks occurred on Tuesday and yesterday in different parts of the region.
There was no independent confirmation of the casualty figures because the area is too dangerous for outsiders to visit.
The raids on Tuesday took place in several villages in Teerah Valley in the Khyber region and killed 45 people, the officials said. One official said some vehicles rigged with explosives had also been destroyed. He could not say how many.
He described the dead as insurgents, but said it was possible that people living with them could also have been killed. Separately, an intelligence officer said some women and children had been killed in the attacks.
Jihad Gul, who lives near one of the villages, said he had seen the bodies of at least 20 women and children.
Unconfirmed
Army spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said reports of civilian casualties were unconfirmed.
The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
An air attack yesterday in the adjoining district of Orakzai killed 15 suspected militants and wounded 10 others, according to local government official Jamil Khan and a brief army statement.
In April, the Teerah Valley was hit by army airstrikes that killed about 60 civilians. The army, which initially described the victims as insurgents, ended up paying compensation to the victims' families and its chief issued a rare public apology.
Pakistan's army has been fighting militants in different parts of the northwest for more than two years.
Militants who fled major army operations in the South Waziristan and Orakzai tribal regions are believed to have set up new bases in Khyber, which is located about 100km northwest of the main city in the region, Peshawar.
