Pakistan Airstrikes Kill 31 Militants Along Afghan Border, Officials Vigilant Protecting Weak Border

Pakistan airstrikes along the border with Afghanistan killed 31 militants in response to last month’s school massacre in Peshawar, which is now believed to have originated from the Tirrah Valley of the Khyber region. While the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban group, hoped to demoralize the Pakistani forces, the attack appears to have had a reverse impact.

As a result, both Pakistan and Afghanistan forces have become more vigilant in protecting their weak border.

The airstrikes in Khyber region at Tirrah Valley decimated four militant hideouts and a training center for suicide bombers. The operation specifically targeted the militants that fled from the attack on North Waziristan back in June, but was the result of increased military operations in response to the school attack.

Late December, officials announced that the alleged planner of the deadly attack on an army school that killed 150 people in Peshawar, Pakistan had been killed in a gun battle. Security forces acting on intelligence information raided the Bara area Thursday night and engaged in an hour-long shootout with the Islamic militant, known only as “Saddam,” a top Pakistani government official in the Khyber tribal region said. Khyber borders the northwestern city of Peshawar.

A 36-year-old father of three and volleyball enthusiast — now the most hated man in Pakistan — was ID’d as the mastermind of this week’s horrific attack on a school that left more than 130 children dead.

Umar Mansoor appeared in a December video on a website used by the terror network trying to justify the Dec. 16 attack. The Pakistan Taliban say the attack, during which mostly children were executed and at least one was teacher burned alive, was revenge for previous attacks by the Pakistani army.

The North Waziristan, in the Datta Khel area, which is located approximately 330 yards from the Afghan border, was a militant compound that held Uzbek militants and terrorists that held their allegiance to Pakistani Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur.

A suspected U.S. drone strike at the militant compound killed another seven militants and wounded four, according to officials.

Meanwhile, a bomb exploded in the Aurakzai tribal region, which killed four teenagers and injured seven as they were setting up to play a game of volleyball.

Fazal Naeem Khan said some of the wounded were critically injured and it could possibly increase their death toll.