PESHAWAR: Pakistanis officials said jet fighters Tuesday killed 20 suspected members of the feared Haqqani network, accused of some of the bloodiest attacks in Afghanistan including a blast that left 57 people dead last weekend.

The air strikes were carried out in the Doga Madakhel area of North Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border, where the military has been mounting an offensive against militant strongholds since June.

The military said in a text message to journalists that “twenty terrorists were killed in precise aerial strikes in North Waziristan,” without giving further details.

Two intelligence officials in the northwest said the jets targeted hideouts of the Haqqani network and of local warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur.

Afghan officials said the Haqqanis, who are aligned with the Afghan Taleban, were behind Sunday’s horrific suicide blast at a volleyball match in the east of the country.

“The dead included seven fighters of Haqqanis while the rest belonged to Gul Bahadur,” one intelligence official siad, requesting anonymity.

A second intelligence official confirmed that the target of Tuesday’s airstrikes were the Haqqani network and fighters of Gul Bahadur.

The official said that a local Haqqani commander was among the dead, but his identity had not yet been ascertained.

Bahadur, a prominent local warlord once seen as “pro-Pakistani,” is unhappy with the military offensive in North Waziristan.