Pakistan’s military said it killed 35 militants in fresh air strikes early Sunday as part of a major offensive against the Taliban and other insurgents in the northwest.

Pakistan's military said it killed 35 militants in fresh air strikes early Sunday as part of a major offensive against the Taliban and other insurgents in the northwest.

Officials said the air attacks were mounted in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan tribal district, which borders Afghanistan.

"In precise aerial strikes 35 terrorists including some foreigners were killed today..." a military statement said.

Pakistani officials refer to Arab and Central Asian militants as "foreigners". They sought sanctuary in tribal areas after fleeing the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Pakistan began a long-awaited push to clear insurgent bases from North Waziristan last June after a bloody Taliban attack on Karachi airport finally sank faltering peace talks.

The army has intensified its offensive since the Taliban's massacre of 150 people, 134 of them children, in a school in Peshawar in December. Twenty convicted militants have since been hanged.