PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- About 35 militants were killed in a helicopter gunship assault by troops in Pakistan's Khyber Pass region, paramilitary Frontier Corps officials said Saturday.
An official told Pakistan's English-language newspaper Dawn the assault came as Frontier Corps troops were mopping up positions held by the militants in the northwestern Swat Valley, where 2,000 anti-government militants have reportedly been killed since an offensive was launched by Islamabad in April.
"Our forces targeted a headquarters of Lashkar-i-Islam and about 15 militants were killed in the attack,' a Frontier Corps spokesman in Peshawar told the newspaper. Lashkar-i-Islam is a group under the command of ethnic Pashtun militant Mangal Bagh, Dawn said.
Officials said 20 other militants were reportedly killed elsewhere in the Khyber Pass region, which serves a vital transport route from Karachi to Western forces fighting Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan.
