Airstrike kills 22 militants

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - At least 22 militants, including two senior commanders, were killed late Friday in an airstrike by military in the troubled northwest Swat valley, a senior security official told AFP.

Troops backed by helicopter gunships and heavy artillery have for weeks been pounding militant positions in the valley, a former tourist spot that erupted in violence last year when a pro-Taliban cleric declared jihad on Islamabad.

“Fighter jets struck the militants’ hideouts in Peochar, killing 22,” the security official said, naming the area where the strike hit.

A military spokesman in Swat told AFP that ‘a core of militants’ had perished in the operation.

“Over 20 are dead, including two senior commanders,” the spokesman said.