MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Feb 25, 2014 (BSS/AFP) - Pakistani
fighter jets and gunship helicopters bombarded hideouts of
Taliban militants in the troubled northwest on Tuesday killing at
least 15 militants, officials said.

The early morning attack on hideouts in the North and South
Waziristan tribal districts were the fourth in a series of
airstrikes by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) since February 20.

"At least 15 militants were killed and several of their
hideouts destroyed, the death toll may increase," a security
official in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, told
AFP.

Earlier this month Pakistan had entered into talks with the
Taliban aimed at ending their seven-year insurgency.

But the militant group has continued carrying out attacks on
a near-daily basis, with dialogue suspended after the insurgents
claimed last week they had executed 23 kidnapped soldiers in a
northwestern tribal region.

Since then the PAF has conducted a series of airstrikes in
the volatile tribal regions bordering Afghanistan which are
considered a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban and foreign
fighters.