48 militants killed in air strikes in Tirah Valley: by Munir Khan Afridi in The News, March 14, 2015

BARA: Forty-eight militants were killed and several others sustained injuries when Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter aircraft blitzed their hideouts in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency on Friday, official sources said.
The sources said the fighter aircraft targeted the hideouts of proscribed militant organisations, Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) led by Mangal Bagh and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in Kukikhel and other areas ofwere killed and several others were injured in the attack. It added that several hideouts of militants were also destroyed in the air strikes.
The sources said security forces had been targeting militants’ hideouts in Tirah Valley along the boundary with Orakzai and Kurram tribal regions for the last four months after clearing major areas in Bara Tehsil of militants.
The sources said that Khajuri, Akakhel, Shalobar, Malikdinkhel, Kamarkhel, Qambarkhel and Sepah areas in Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency had been cleared of militants.Though security forces had intensified the operation against the militants after the brazen terrorist attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar on December 16, it was the first major offensive against the militants in Tirah Valley after a lull of one and a half months.
Earlier on Thursday, a militant coming from Khyber Agency, who opened fire on security forces at Gora Qabristan in Peshawar, was killed in retaliatory fire.The Mangal Bagh-led LI had claimed responsibility for the attack. Some civilians were injured in the crossfire and were hospitalised. http://www.thenews.com.pk/PrintEdition.aspx?ID=36399&Cat=13&dt=3/13/2015