Airstrikes in Pakistan kill 40 terrorists

The aerial strikes were launched after Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif directed intelligence agencies to help find the perpetrators involved in the suicide bomb attack in Attock district in which Punjab province Home Minister Shuja Khanzada and 12 others were killed.

Khanzada, 71, and a DSP were among the 13 people killed when the suicide bomber attacked his political office in his native Shadi Khan village, Punjab Emergency Department spokesperson Deeba Shahnaz said.

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On July 14, fourteen terrorists, including top commanders, were killed during air strikes in Alwara area of North Waziristan.

North Waziristan, where army has launched an offensive against militants, has been a hub for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants since the early 2000s

Army has also moved ahead to clear the Shawal valley which overlaps both South and North Waziristan and links these two districts to Afghanistan.

More than 2,800 militants have been killed since the launch of the operation last June.