Pakistan bombs Taliban suspects

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 22 (UPI) -- Pakistan's military announced at least 14 suspected Taliban militants were killed Sunday by airstrikes in a northwestern tribal region.

Based on intelligence reports, at least three houses suspected of harboring terrorists in Orakzai were destroyed by air force missiles, The Nation newspaper reported from Islamabad.

Military officials said the death toll was 14, but couldn't say how many others were injured by the attack.

The Press Trust of India said the targeted men were part of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan sect.

Pakistani intelligence officials identified the region as a staging area for Islamist militants in 2008, although it isn't on the border with Afghanistan, The Nation said.

The mountainous and remote regions of northwestern Pakistan that border Afghanistan are known by Pakistani and U.S. officials to be havens for Taliban and al-Qaida fighters who cross the porous border at will.

On a near-weekly basis, the CIA deploys missile-equipped unmanned aircraft to target suspect locations along the border, which Pakistan has protested due to civilian deaths.