Over 70 people — many of them terrorists — were killed in three separate incidents of violence in the tribal areas of Pakistan on Friday. The biggest death toll of 33 persons was in Tirah Valley of Khyber tribal agency in a clash between the army and terrorists.
The clash began when an army checkpoint in the Tirah Valley was attacked by the terrorists. In the retaliatory fire, 23 terrorists were killed along with 10 soldiers.
Later in the day, 22 people were killed in a suicide blast after Friday prayers at a mosque in Tirah Valley itself. Most of the dead were members of Lashkar-e-Islam. According to the BBC, a local unit of the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack which was to avenge the killing of their people by the Lashkar-e-Islam two months ago.
In another incident in the Orakzai tribal agency, 15 terrorists were killed and several injured in an aerial bombardment by the military as part of the ongoing operations against terrorist havens along the strife-torn border with Afghanistan.
