8 rebels dead in Orakzai airstrike

ISLAMABAD (PAN border, killing eight insurgents on Saturday, an official said.

The airstrike destroyed four militant hideouts in the lawless northwest, government official Shahid Orakzai told Pajhwok Afghan News. Eight militants were killed in the attack, he said.

Humayun, a resident, said the airstrike took place in Saiful Darra and Khwezai villages. There were loud explosions, he said, giving no information about casualties.

After militants fled a sweeping offensive in the tribal district of South Waziristan, Pakistan launched in March 2010 a major operation in Orakzai, which is made up of seven districts.

Military officials late last year said Lower Orakzai had been cleared, but the militant threat persisted in some pockets of the upper part of the area.Around 4,000 people have been killed in militant attacks across Pakistan since July 2007.

ma/mud

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