Pakistan killed up to 30 Islamist militants in an air strike and three soldiers and a civilian were killed in a suicide attack in the northwest near the Afghan border today, officials said.
The raid on a militant hideout in Mohmand tribal region came hours after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a military convoy in nearby Shabqadar town.
"We have reports that 25 to 30 militants were killed and many wounded in the air strike," a military official said.
Mohmand lies close to Bajaur, another tribal region, where security forces have launched a massive operation against the militants since August. The military says more than 1,500 militants have been killed in the Bajaur operation. There has been no independent verification of that casualty estimate.
Pakistani forces are battling al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the northwest. The militants have retaliated with a campaign of suicide bombings, particularly against security forces in the ethnic Pashtun tribal regions on the Afghan border.
The attack in Shabqadar came two days after a suicide car-bomber killed eight people in an attack aimed at a military checkpoint in the Swat valley, to the northwest of Islamabad.