Pakistan says 80 Taliban militants killed in clashes

Pakistani troops have killed 80 militants in heavy clashes with Taliban allied-fighters, the military said.

The fighting, involving both ground troops and fighter jets, began on Saturday in the Tirah Valley in the Kyber region, west of the city of Peshawar. A security official said the military killed at least 80 people, all designated “terrorists,” while the Pakistani Taliban said at least seven soldiers were killed.

“In Khyber, terrorists being dislodged from bases, fleeing to border. So far 80 terrorists killed, approximately 100 injured in this phase,” the head of army’s media wing, Gen Asim Bajwa, said on his Twitter account.

"[Operations] will continue with full force till total terrorist elimination from these areas," tweeted Maj-Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, the military's spokesperson, on Saturday evening.

Pakistan has been battling the Lashkar-e-Islam in the Khyber tribal area, adjacent to Peshawar and part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), since October last year, when it expanded anti-Taliban operations into the area.

Taliban spokesman Muhammed Khurassani said on Saturday there had been heavy fighting in the Tirah Valley for three days.

A mine “targeted” 12 soldiers and six were killed in a separate attack, he said. An army major is also believed to have been killed and air strikes were also carried out in the South Waziristan region, causing dozens to flee.

On March 12, the Lashkar-e-Islam, led by local commander Mangal Bagh, formally entered into an alliance with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organisation of anti-State religious extremist groups that have been fighting against Pakistan since 2007.

So far, operations in the Khyber tribal area have resulted in the deaths of at least 419 people, all designated "terrorists", as well as at least 17 soldiers, the military said.