10 Pakistani militants killed in Paktika airstrike

SHARAN (PAN): Ten Pakistani militants were killed in a coalition airstrike in the Barmal district of southeastern Paktika province, an official said on Saturday.

The Pakistanis were killed on Friday night after they had sneaked into the Gharnai area from across the border, the governor’s spokesman, Mukhlis Afghan, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

There was also a gun-battle between the militants and border police, who later called in air support, he said. The firefight lasted nearly one hour.

Afghan said the dead included the group leader identified as Saifullah and the rest were residents of Pakistan‘s Punjab province and Waziristan, a tribal region near the Afghan border.

A spokesman for the 303 Thunder Military Corps in Paktika, Maj. Haroon Yusufzai, said foreign troops on Friday night launched a clean up operation in Barmal district. He confirmed 10 insurgents had been killed and a large number of weapons recovered during the operation.

He also said another three militants were killed in the Yusufkhel district of the province. Foreign and Afghan troops suffered no casualties in the operation, he said.

A doctor at the Sharan civil hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed receiving three dead bodies from the Yusufkhel district at the hospital.

There was no word from the Taliban about the two incidents.

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