Pak military kills 31 TTP militants

Pakistan's military said it had killed 31 local Taliban militants in two separate operations near the border with Afghanistan, where the group's presence has increased.

It comes after 12 soldiers were killed in an ambush in a neighbouring district on Saturday, an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP).

The military said in a statement published late Monday that it had killed 31 "Khwarij" over the weekend, a recent term adopted by authorities to describe TTP fighters.

It accused archfoe India, with which Pakistan fought a four-day skirmish in May, of backing the militants.

"Sanitisation operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored" militants in the area, said the statement published late Monday.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, which authorities in Kabul deny.

More than 460 people, mostly members of the security forces, have been killed this year in attacks carried out by armed groups fighting the state, both in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.