PESHAWAR: The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Monday officially confirmed the death of 23 soldiers in Tirah Valley and said that the security forces have also gained a lot of ground in the militants’ stronghold in the remote mountainous hamlet.

Dawn.Com was the first to report about the decisive gunbattle in the Tirah Valley to dislodge the militants from their stronghold on Saturday. The gun-battle had left at least 23 soldiers dead including some Special Service Groups (SSG) personnel of officer’s rank.

The ISPR, in an official statement issued on Monday evening, said that over 110 militants have also been killed in the Tirah Valley and scores of their hideouts have been destroyed in the strikes during the operation which had been started on Friday.

The statement also says that the offensive is successfully continuing in the valley and some important heights have also been captured by the security forces.

A security official told Dawn.Com that after initial casualties, the security forces are constantly continuing with the strategy of controlling heights and than would be marching down to the scattered built up areas to flush out the miscreants.

The landlocked area is reported to be a bastion of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other foreign militants.