By Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD
At least 28 suspected Taliban militants were killed in a fresh round of air strikes in the restless tribal region of North Waziristan on Tuesday, officials have said.
The Directorate of Inter-Services Public Relations, the Pakistani army's media division, announced that army jets pounded two militant hideouts in the town of Dattakhel, which lies near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
The deceased also included a number of foreign militants, but the Directorate did not specify their numbers.
It served as a stronghold of the Taliban’s Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, which is considered to be the public face of the powerful Haqqani network.
The Haqqani network is blamed for numerous brazen attacks on foreign forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
The fresh casualties have put the death toll of the ongoing military onslaught in the troubled region to over 1,350 since June 15.
These figures, however, cannot be verified as independent media is not allowed to enter operation hit areas.
Nearly 100 army soldiers have also been killed in landmine blasts and clashes with militants over the past four months.
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