AFP/Islamabad

The Pakistan military said Tuesday it had killed at least 24 militants in air strikes and ground fighting in northwestern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, as part of ongoing offensives in the region.
A ruling party politician in the southwestern province of Baluchistan meanwhile narrowly escaped with his life when a roadside bomb detonated outside his home as he left the building.
Air strikes took place in the restive North Waziristan tribal district, where the army launched a major operation in June targeting Taliban and Haqqani network militants.
The strikes came as ground troops traded fire with militants in Khyber agency, where Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam fighters are based.
"In early morning precise aerial strikes in North Waziristan Agency today 17 terrorists were killed including some foreigners," a senior security official told AFP.
Local intelligence officials confirmed the air strikes and said they took place near Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan.
"There are five Uzbek and two Haqqani network militants among those who have been killed in the air strikes," an intelligence official told AFP.
Separately in Khyber's Tirah valley, a stronghold of Taliban militants, seven militants were killed during a gunfight that erupted after up to 60 militants stormed a security check point.
"Seven terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Tirah in Khyber Agency. Reportedly about 50-60 terrorists raided a check post in Tirah," a second security official told AFP.
It was not possible to verify the number of casualties or their identity as the media are banned from visiting the area.
Rights groups say the military often exaggerates the number of dead and civilians are often killed too.
The North Waziristan operation began in mid-June, when jets and artillery began targeting rebel strongholds before ground forces moved in.
The army says it has killed more than 1,100 militants and lost more than 100 soldiers since the start of the operation.
An AFP tally based on regular updates from the military puts the militant death toll at more than 1,500, with 125 soldiers killed.
Also Tuesday, Sardar Raza Muhammad Barrech, a member of southwestern Baluchistan's provincial parliament, narrowly escaped a roadside bomb near his home in Quetta that destroyed his car, senior police official Abdul Razzaq Cheema told AFP.
Barrech's party, the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, is part of the ruling coalition in the province and stands against Taliban militants.
Provincial home minister Sarfraz Bugti said Barrech was the target of the bombing and security would be beefed up for members of cabinet.
Nobody immediately claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Baluchistan, Pakistan's largest but least developed and most sparsely populated province, is racked by Islamist militants, banditry, a separatist revolt and sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias.