Pakistan military air strike kills 22 militants

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — At least 22 militants, including two senior commanders, were killed late Friday in an air strike by Pakistan's military in the troubled northwest Swat valley, a senior security official told AFP.

Troops backed by helicopter gunships and heavy artillery have for weeks been pounding militant positions in the valley, a former tourist spot that erupted in violence last year when a pro-Taliban cleric declared jihad on Islamabad.

"Fighter jets struck the militants' hideouts in Peochar, killing 22," the security official said, naming the area where the strike hit.

A military spokesman in Swat told AFP that "a core of militants" had perished in the operation.

"Over 25 are dead, including two senior commanders," the spokesman said.

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