PESHAWAR: Pakistani security forces killed more than 50 suspected militants on Friday as operations against insurgents intensify in the wake of a Taleban school massacre that killed 149 people.

The bloody rampage in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday brought international condemnation and promises of swift, decisive action against militants from Pakistan’s political and military leaders.

The government and military have reaffirmed their determination to defeat the Taleban following the school massacre in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The first hangings of militant prisoners on death row are expected in the coming days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted a moratorium on executions in terror cases.

An ambush by security forces in the northwest on Friday left at least 32 militants dead, to add to 27 killed in air strikes and ground operations on Thursday.

“Reportedly a group of terrorists was moving from Tirah toward Pak-Afghan border. Security forces ambushed the moving group at Wurmagai and Spurkot, killing 32 terrorists in exchange of fire,” a military statement said.

In a separate operation on Friday, 18 militants were killed in Khyber, the military said in a statement.

The insurgents were killed by security forces in an ambush in the Tirah area of Khyber, where the Taleban and other militants have taken refuge from an army offensive, the military said in a statement.

The army has been waging a major offensive against longstanding Taleban and other militant strongholds in the restive tribal areas on the Afghan border for the last six months. But a series of fresh strikes after the Peshawar attack, which wrought devastation at an army-run school, suggest the military is stepping up its campaign.

As the Peshawar tragedy unfolded, Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif said the attack had renewed the forces’ determination to push for the militants’ “final elimination”.

In the southern city of Karachi on Friday, a suspected local Taleban commander and three cadres were also killed during a raid by government paramilitary Rangers personnel.

“The terrorists threw hand grenades and opened fire on Rangers as they cordoned off their hideout in Musharraf colony during a pre-dawn raid,” Rizvi told AFP.