KALAYA: At least 13 suspected militants were killed and seven others injured when helicopter gunships shelled their positions in the upper tehsil of Orakzai Agency on Sunday. According to sources, four militant hideouts were destroyed.
Security personnel also launched a major search operation in Torkani and Yakh Kandao areas and seized a large cache of landmines and explosives. Air strikes in the area have been intensified after a bomb attack on a military convoy and 44 militants have been killed over the past three days. The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has denied having suffered casualties, alleging that the helicopters attacked empty houses and caused an exodus from the area
