Security forces kill 31 militants in Tirah Valley

The attacks, which took place in the Tirah Valley also destroyed four hideouts. The military has been targeting Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam militants in the region since October.

“Four terrorist hideouts and a suicide bomber training centre were destroyed. 31 terrorists including some suicide bombers were killed,” a statement said.

The army has intensified its offensives in the tribal areas after the massacre of 150 people, 134 of them children, in a school in Peshawar in December.

Pakistan described the carnage as its own “mini 9/11” and a game-changer in the fight against extremism.

Pakistan also ended its six-year-old moratorium on the death penalty in terror cases last month in the wake of the slaughter at an army-run school in the northwestern city of Peshawar on December 16.

Seven convicted militants have been hanged so far since the de facto ban on capital punishment ended. -AFP