ISLAMABAD: Pakistani warplanes struck five militant hide-outs in a Taleban stronghold near the Afghan border on Wednesday, killing 65 insurgents, the military said.

Pakistan began the long-awaited push to clear insurgent bases from North Waziristan district, on the Afghan border, in June after a bloody attack on Karachi airport finally sank faltering peace talks with the rebels.

The strikes, carried out in two phases hours apart, targeted areas in the North Waziristan tribal region, where the military has been conducting a major offensive since mid-June, the army said in a statement. The strikes came a day after the Pakistani Taleban took credit for a weekend attack on a navy dockyard on the other side of the country, in the port city of Karachi.

Also Wednesday, Pakistan’s defense minister said authorities investigating a weekend attack on a navy dockyard in the port city of Karachi cannot rule out possible involvement of some navy personnel in the assault.

The army announced earlier this month it had killed more than 900 militants and lost 82 soldiers since the start of the operation.

After one set of air strikes in the Shawal Valley in July, multiple accounts by residents said 37 civilians were killed, including 20 women and 10 children. North Waziristan has long been home to a mix of local and Al-Qaeda-linked foreign militants, including armed groups which carry out cross-border attacks on US and other NATO troops in Afghanistan.

The army launched the much-awaited operation there on June 15, following a deadly militant attack on country’s one of the busiest airports in Karachi. Wednesday’s deaths brought to almost 975 the number of militants the military says it has killed in air and ground attacks in North Waziristan.

The area, however, is off limits to journalists, making it impossible to confirm military claims independently.