25 militants killed in Pakistan raids

Pakistani security forces have killed at least 25 suspected militants in overnight raids near the Afghan border, officials said today.

Local government official Samiullah Khan says several other insurgents were wounded when troops backed by artillery and helicopters targeted militant positions in the troubled Orakzai tribal region late yesterday.

He says helicopters also targeted militant positions in Orakzai this morning.

About 210,000 civilians have fled from Orakzai since fighting started at the end of last year.

Nearly 50,000 of them left in the last month when ground forces moved in to flush out insurgents.