On Heels of School Massacre, Pakistan Kills Dozens

Pakistani jets and ground forces killed 67 militants in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said today, days after Taliban fighters killed 148 people—most of them children—in a school massacre that stunned the country and brought cries for retaliation. The military says ground forces killed 10 militants while jets killed another 17, including an Uzbek commander. Another 32 alleged terrorists were killed by security forces in an ambush in the Khyber tribal area they headed toward the Afghan border, the military says. The area borders Peshawar, where the school massacre happened, and militants have traditionally attacked the city before fleeing into the tribal region where police can't chase them.

In the southern province of Balochistan, Pakistani security forces say they killed a senior Pakistani Taliban leader along with seven of his associates in three separate pre-dawn raids today. Last night, a general signed the death warrants of six "hardcore terrorists" convicted and sentenced to death by military courts, the army says. It was unclear when the military planned to hang the six men, but authorities generally move quickly once death warrants are signed. (More Pakistan stories.)