By Aamir Latif
KARACHI
At least 35 suspected militants were killed Sunday in renewed airstrikes by the Pakistani army on militant hideouts in the restless North Waziristan tribal region, near the border with Afghanistan, army officials said.
The fresh airstrikes are seen as part of the military response after a school siege in Peshawar city that killed over 140 people, mostly students, in December 2014.
The Pakistani army's media wing, Inter Services Public Relations, said fighter jets had carried out several airstrikes in the remote town of Datta Khel in North Waziristan, killing 35 militants.
Foreigners were among the deceased, added the Inter Services Public Relations said.
North Waziristan, one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal areas of Pakistan, has been a battleground between the army and the Pakistani Taliban since the former launched a large-scale operation on June 15, 2014 against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, a coalition of different insurgent groups in Pakistan.
The fresh casualties have put the militants' death toll at over 2,100. But media have been barred from accessing operation-hit areas and conducting independent verifications of the army figures.
Over 200 soldiers have also been killed in the ongoing operation.
The military operations have already forced 1.5 million tribesmen from North Waziristan, and adjoining Khyber Agency to adjacent Peshawar, Bannu, Karak, and Lakki Marwat districts.
