The airstrikes were carried out last night. DG ISPR Major General Asim Salim Bajwa said the operation supported by the ground force is continuing to hunt the fleeting terrorists. Important heights and passes along Pak-Afghan border have been secured.
Shawal Update: Sanitisation of Shawal Valley in progress.Ops continue pic.twitter.com/qSIxzGAWmV
— Gen Asim Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) March 8, 2016
The operation against militants has intensified come days after Army Chief General Raheel Sharif ordered his troops to begin the last phase of a bloody operation targeting militants in the restive northwest along the Afghan border.
21 terrorists killed since last night. Ops continue.Imp heights&passes along Pak-Afgn Bdr secured.Valley’s sanitisation in progress-2 — Gen Asim Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) March 8, 2016
The Pakistani army launched Operation Zar-e-Azb under US pressure in 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the North Waziristan tribal area and bring an end to the near decade-long Islamist insurgency that has cost Pakistan thousands of lives.
Pakistan’s Islamist insurgency began after the US-led invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan in 2001 which led to a spillover of militants across the border and a surge in recruitment for Pakistani extremist groups.
