Pakistan’s army has killed 43 militants in major clashes in the tribal provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, and vowed in a statement on Friday to ‘continue its operations until terrorism is eliminated from the country’.

In Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, the mountainous province on the north-western border with Afghanistan, the Pakistani army statement said it had been conducting operations in the rugged Lakki Marwat district on the edge of the tribal areas since Monday and had clashed with militants in a fierce gun battle in which the army killed 18 of them.

In Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province which shares a long and troubled border with Iran and Afghanistan in the south-west, 10 militants were killed in heavy gunbattles between the army and militants in Musa Khel and Panjgur districts yesterday, bringing the total number of militants killed in the province since Monday to 25.

The Pakistani army said its recent operations had caused a ‘major setback’ to terrorist groups operating in Balochistan.