Pakistan: Airstrikes in North Waziristan kill at least 15 militants

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- The Pakistani military on Sunday said it killed up to 15 militants while conducting airstrikes in the tribal region of North Waziristan.

Quoting a statement by the country's Inter-Services Public Relations, Xinhua news agency reports the strikes were directed at seven hideouts in the Shawal region, where forces with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are known to operate.

The airstrikes occurred the same day 10 people were killed and 57 injured in a blast in the Punjab province, where a motorcycle collided with a rickshaw. Police say it may have been an intentional attack but have speculated that explosive materials being carried by the motorcyclist could have accidentally detonated on impact.

Last week the military says it killed three militants in the same area of North Waziristan during the country's first ever strike using Pakistani drones.

Six days earlier, a U.S. drone reportedly fired two missiles into a compound in the Shawal valley of North Waziristan, killing six militants. At the time it was reported to have been the 12th such strike in Pakistan's tribal areas this year, raising to 78 the number of militants in the region killed by drones during that time.

On Aug. 18, Pakistani military officials claimed airstrikes in North Waziristan had killed at least 90 militants in two days' time.

Since June 2014, the Pakistani military has mounted an offensive operation known as Zarb-e-Azb in the country's rugged northwestern tribal regions, killing a reported 3,000 militants.

Xinhua quoted the director general of ISPR as previously saying the focus of operations in the Shawal region represented the final phase of Zarb-e-Azb and that a majority of militant forces had been cleared from North Waziristan.