(AKI) - Fifteen Taliban militants have been killed in an air raid in northwest Pakistan, government officials say. Security forces targeted a compound in Airab, a village in the troubled Bajaur region bordering Afghanistan.Jamil Khan, described as the second top government representative in Bajaur, said on Thursday a Pakistani commander called Wali Rehman was among the dead. He claimed that Rehman was known to have sheltered foreign fighters who had links to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
The Pakistani authorities launched an offensive in the troubled Bajur region three months ago in an attempt to disrupt the Taliban's influence over the area.
More than 1600 militants have been killed in the Bajaur Agency since the government launched military action against militants three months ago. The United Nations refugee agency said recently it was trying to provide urgent shelter and other aid for some 190,000 people displaced by the conflict in Bajaur.