ISLAMABAD/MIRANSHAH: Pakistani Air Force jets and helicopter gunships pounded militant hideouts near the Afghan border on Wednesday, killing 60 militants, the army officials said.

The strikes will come as a fresh blow to stop-start peace talks between the government and the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP), which have made little progress since they began in February.

There have been a number of insurgent attacks on security forces in recent weeks and the air raids fit a familiar pattern of the armed forces responding by hitting the insurgents’ bases in the tribal areas.

The airstrikes mainly targeted Mir Ali, a town in the lawless tribal region of North Waziristan, the army said in a statement.

It said 60 terrorists, including some of the important commanders and foreigners were also killed in the strikes, which also wounded another 30.

One resident, who identified himself as Saeedullah Khan, said the army had also been using artillery fire since early morning.

“We heard big bangs,” he said. “I saw some houses flattened.”

The army didn’t give more details on the important commanders or the foreign who were killed.

The claims could not be independently verified. The lawless tribal area is off limits to foreign journalists.

The army said investigation into recent attacks against civilians and security forces had led it to the militant hideouts that were targeted.

Waziristan is part of Pakistan’s tribal region, which is home to Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked foreign militants who have been waging a bloody war against the state, killing thousands of people.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been pursuing a policy of negotiation with the Pakistani Taleban to end the decades of militant violence, but government efforts have not yielded any results so far.

Also Wednesday, a bomb rigged to a motorcycle exploded outside an office belonging to the Pakistani paramilitary forces in the southern city of Karachi, wounding seven civilians, police official Javed Odho said.