Eight militants killed, 16 arrested in clashes; residents flee ahead of major offensive on Upper Orakzai. —File photo by AP

KOHAT After destroying seven hideouts of militants, security forces entered the upper Orakzai Agency and took control of the Kacha Mela Mamozi area on Monday.

In the afternoon, eight more militants were killed and scores injured in a gunbattle when troops captured a key post of militants at the border between Orakzai Agency and Hangu.

The death toll of militants in two days of clashes with security forces over control of Shahu Khel in Hangu district rose to 20 on Monday.

Security forces also arrested 16 fleeing militants.

Women and children continued to leave various parts of upper Orakzai Agency for Hangu because militants and troops were bracing themselves for another encounter.

A large number of troops have started consolidating their positions in Shahu Khel for an assault on the hideouts of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in upper Orakzai.

Official sources said that the army had moved in artillery and begun work on a base camp along the border with Orakzai Agency to make more precise strikes at militant hideouts. This would be the first time in eight years that ground troops would enter any part of Orakzai Agency.

Earlier only helicopter gunships and jets were being sent to the area for pounding hideouts in bazaars and houses, resulting in heavy civilian casualties.

The TTP beheaded two men in Feroze Khel area in Lower Orakzai Agency on charges of spying, officials said. The bodies of Awal Hassan and his son Inayatullah were found in the Sam area.

Two policemen were also injured as militants opened fire at a police mobile van in Doaba area of Hangu district.

AFP adds Officials said troops, backed by attack helicopters, killed at least 12 militants in Orakzai on Monday.

'Paramilitary Frontier Corps troops, backed by attack helicopters and artillery, targeted militant hideouts in the two areas on Sunday and Monday, killing 12 rebels,' a local police spokesman said.

A senior security official confirmed the operation, saying that paramilitary troops entered Shahu Khel on Monday to hunt down rebels.

The operation was ordered in the light of intelligence reports suggesting there were links between militants hiding in the area and recent attacks in Peshawar.