Pakistani officials said that military on Wednesday launched an assault on Taliban hideouts in the northwest tribal belt, killing 11 militants in firefights and bombing raids.

The operation came hours after a US drone aircraft fired two missiles into a compound in North Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border, killing at least six suspected militants in the latest strike by the spy planes.

Pakistani troops began operations just after midnight Wednesday to oust militants from the outskirts of Kalaya, the main town in the Orakzai tribal district, a senior security official in the northwest city Peshawar said.

Helicopter gunships also shelled the militants in the same area of Orakzai, part of the lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border.
“At least 11 militants were killed in this clean-up operation,” the senior security official told AFP, refusing to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Major Fazal-ur-Rehman, spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps, confirmed that security forces were battling militants in Orakzai and there were “militants losses”, but did not give the numbers.

An intelligence official said the shelling destroyed five mud brick compounds used by Taliban militants, while an administrative official based in Kalaya confirmed the death toll.