Pakistan forces kill 15 Taliban militants

HANGU, Pakistan, July 20 (UPI) -- Pakistani forces have killed 15 militants and arrested 60 others in an offensive aimed at Taliban operating in the northwest tribal areas, officials said Sunday.

The offensive was launched last week and intensified Sunday after Taliban militants attacked a fort used by the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the Hangu region, the Press Trust of India reported.

Pakistan government forces used mortars and helicopter gunships in the assault on Hangu's militant group, and also struck Taliban positions at three places in the nearby Kurram tribal agency, where Pakistani media reports said a civilian was injured.

Taliban leaders, meanwhile, threatened to execute 29 hostages if Pakistan didn't halt its offensive, the news agency said.