TEMPO.CO, Jakarta -Pakistani assault helicopters have attacked a rebel hideout at a troubled tribal stronghold near the Afghani border on Monday, October 27, 2014, killing at least 33 people, according to military sources.
The airstrikes occurred in the Datta Khel and Gharlamai district in North Waziristan.
"Nine terrorist hideouts were destroyed by two airstrikes in North Waziristan, killing 33 people," said a military statement.
Local security officials said that most of the militant rebels who were killed in the Datta Khel district belong to the Uzbek ethnic group, while the rest are members of the feared Haqqani terrorist network.
Pakistan has been combatting hardline Islamist insurgents across its' semi-autonomous regions since 2004, following the United States (US) led invasion of Afghanistan that drove hordes of al-Qaeda fighters into Pakistani territories for safety and to regroup.
In June, Pakistani troops began its' assault on rebel hide-outs in North Waziristan, after scores of attacks in Karachi ended the fragile peace talks between the government and the Taliban.
North Waziristan is considered a stronghold of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The US has since long called for Pakistan to commit to more actions against militant groups in North Waziristan, who have been using the region as a base of operations against North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's Military claims that it has managed to kill more than 1,000 militants and posts a loss of 86 troops since the operations began. That said, the numbers are not easily verifiable because journalists do not have routine access to the conflict zones, according AFP reports.
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