Pakistani forces kill 30 militants in airstrikes

Pakistani army said Saturday that 30 more terrorists were killed in targeted strikes by jet aircraft in the country's restive and remote North Waziristan and Khyber tribal areas.
Three more hideouts were destroyed in Hassu Khel in North Waziristan agency, killing 20 terrorists, said an army spokesman Major Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa.
All the airstrikes were carried out in areas where there is no civilian population, he said in a statement.
Pakistani fighter jet also destroyed two hideouts of terrorists close to Pak-Afghan border in Khyber Agency, killing 10 terrorists.
The army spokesman said tribal leaders have declared their support to Pakistan Army in the ongoing military operation in North Waziristan.
In his Twitter message posted on Saturday, the spokesman said the support has been extended by the tribal elders of Miranshah, Mir Ali and Datta Khel, three major towns in North Waziristan.
He said the tribes have assured that the terrorists will not be allowed to return to their areas.
Pakistani forces, backed by fighter jets and gunships, launched the much-anticipated major operation against the Pakistani and foreign militant groups in North Waziristan on Sunday after rare peace talks with the Taliban collapsed.
The operation was launched days after the Pakistani and Uzbek militants carried out a brazen terror attack on the country's biggest airport in southern port city of Karachi, killing nearly 30 security and airlines officials.
A large number of people have fled the war-zone during a three- day relaxation of curfew in North Waziristan, officials say.
Senior minister in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Siraj-ul-Haq said on Saturday that around 300,000 have so far left home.
The authorities have set up a camp in Bannu, a major city near North Waziristan. However, majority of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) have preferred to stay in rented houses or with relatives and friends.
The U.N. refugee agency said over 6,000 Pakistani refugees have crossed into neighbor Afghanistan's eastern Khost province.