Pakistani troops kill 35 militants in Khyber strikes

JAMRUD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships killed about 35 militants on Saturday in attacks on militant hideouts in the northwestern Khyber Pass region, a spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps said.

The Khyber Pass is a main route for supplies being trucked from the Pakistani port of Karachi to Western forces battling al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

The airstrikes come as troops continue mopping up militant positions in the northwestern Swat valley, where the military says more than 2,000 militants have been killed since an offensive was launched in April.

Troops began a new operation in the Khyber this week against militants, including some who had fled from the Swat offensive.

"Our forces targeted a headquarters of Lashkar-e-Islam and about 15 militants were killed in the attack," said a Frontier Corps spokesman in Peshawar, referring to a group under the command of Mangal Bagh, an ethnic Pashtun Islamist militant.

Another 20 were killed elsewhere in the region on strikes on hideouts of militants loyal to Bagh.

The Kyber is one of seven Pakistani regions with a high degree of autonomy based on tribal laws. On August 27 a suicide bomber killed 22 border guards at the main crossing to Afghanistan.

In Swat, security forces killed a militant commander and arrested five others, according to a military statement. Another seven militants surrendered to security forces.

Troops also destroyed two militant hideouts in the neighboring Dir region, the military said.

The show of force in Swat and elsewhere has helped allay fears among allies -- particularly the United States and others with troops in Afghanistan -- that nuclear-armed Pakistan was failing to confront Islamist militants.

(Additional reporting and writing by Augustine Anthony; Editing by David Fox)