Pakistani security forces killed 60 insurgents in 24 hours near the border with Afghanistan in an offensive that coincided with a visit to Islamabad by US Gen David Petraeus for talks on regional security.
Troops backed by aircraft battled militants in the Mohmand region, killing 38 yesterday and 22 the day before, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
Suspected militant hideouts in Habibzai and Mulakhel, both Taliban strongholds, were destroyed, it said.
Gen Petraeus, commander of US forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, announced in Islamabad that a northern supply route to Afghanistan had been agreed on as an alternative to the road in Pakistan that was closed several times recently because of militant attacks, the BBC reported.
Thousands of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters sought shelter in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region after US-led forces ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001.
The United States has been pressing Pakistan to eliminate militant bases in the ethnic Pashtun regions on the border from which insurgents infiltrate Afghanistan to attack international troops.
Pakistan is trying to defuse tensions with India following the November terrorist attack on Mumbai. India blames Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the events in Mumbai that left 164 people dead and raised tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Bloomberg