Taliban hideouts shelled by Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 9 (UPI) -- Pakistani officials say 22 suspected Taliban militants and 16 civilians were killed in the shelling of suspected Taliban sites in South Waziristan Thursday.

Government and intelligence officials told CNN Pakistani jets attacked suspected Taliban hideouts in the Orakzai region of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The hideouts in the Taliban-controlled region were thought to have ties to Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, the officials said.

Both the Pakistani government and CIA officials suspect Mehsud was responsible for the December 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Thursday's shelling attack on the suspected militant hideouts came a day after several other suspected hideouts with ties to Mehsud were struck by two suspected U.S. drone attacks.

CNN said Wednesday's attacks in northwest Pakistan resulted in the deaths of at least eight suspected militants. Five other people were injured in the attacks, which also targeted a vehicle convoy headed to a suspected Mehsud camp.