Pakistan airstrikes kill 53 militants

Islamabad - Airstrikes by Pakistani fighter jets killed 53 suspected Islamist militants on Tuesday, the military said, as security forces arrested thousands for alleged links with the Taliban rebels in a countrywide clampdown.

The aircraft bombed hideouts used by suspected fighters with the Islamist extremist Taliban in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border, a military statement said.

Foreign fighters were among the dead, the military said, without giving their nationalities.

The Pakistani Army began an offensive in mid-June in North Waziristan to regain control of territory from al-Qaeda fighters.

The army last week said nearly 2 000 rebels have been killed in months of airstrikes and ground operations.

Security forces have arrested nearly 10 000 suspects from across the country after a massacre of children by the Taliban gunmen at an army-run school on 16 December, Interior Ministry officials said this week.