ISLAMABAD, March 11 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 30 militants were killed when the Pakistan Army artillery shelled a village near the country's North Waziristan town of Miranshah on Friday night, a private TV channel reported on Saturday.

    The Geo TV quoted government sources as saying that the attack on Khattay Killay, some 10 kilometers from Miranshah, began around Friday evening. The gunship helicopters flying in pairs attacked amadrassa, an Islamic religious school, and the adjacent home in the village.

    A dry stream near the village where the militants had taken up positions had also been strafed and shelled, according to the report. The military also recovered a huge cache of arms and also recovered important certificates and several passports.

    On Friday, the official APP news agency quoted the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) as saying that Pakistani security forces during recent operations in northwestern Pakistan had killed over 100 terrorists and arrested nine with foreigners among them.

    It said that huge cache of arms and ammunition had also been seized during the operations in Miranshah and Mir Ali in North Waziristan Agency (NWA), bordering on Afghanistan.

    But the mastermind and chief of the involved group Maulvi Abdul Khaliq who has close relations with Abdullah Mahsud, a wanted terrorist, has flown away, according to the ISPR. Enditem