The violence in North
Wazoo tribal district came a day after a suicide kaboom at a military checkpoint killed five soldiers and maimed 34 others.Ansarul Mujahideen, a little-known Death Eater group linked to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), grabbed credit for Wednesday's suicide kaboom.
A senior military official said 23 snuffies were killed overnight in fighting with security forces in North Waziristan, a known hotbed of the TTP and Al-Qaeda linked Death Eaters.
Clashes erupted after the snuffies attacked a convoy of security forces which was returning after rescuing soldiers maimed in Wednesday's bombing, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The corpse count could not be verified independently because of an ongoing search operation and curfew in the area. The area is also off-limits to foreign journalists and aid groups.
Helicopters attacked compounds in the morning while troops fired mortars at intervals throughout the day at suspected Death Eater hideouts.
A security bigshot said the cordon and search operation was still going on in the town of Mirali and surrounding areas.
Local resident Mohabbat Khan told AFP the security forces also demolished a few compounds in Mirali where they suspected the presence of rebels.
He added that the landline telephone service had been suspended in the area.
Earlier, local security officials said six of the suspected snuffies had been killed during raids on two hotels.
"Pak security forces raided two hotels in the area close to the site of the suicide kaboom and intense gunbattles left six suspected snuffies dead and 12 others maimed," a local security official told AFP.
Separately, shells fired by Pak security forces hit a house in Moski village and killed a woman and her two daughters, the local official said.
Military officials did not confirm the civilian deaths.
The TTP has led a bloody campaign against the Pak state in recent years, carrying out hundreds of attacks on security forces and government targets, mainly in the northwest.