Islamabad, July 10 (DPA) At least 24 Islamist militants and four policemen were killed in overnight airstrikes in Pakistan's north-western region near Afghanistan, officials said on Friday.

Pakistani jet aircraft and helicopter gunships targeted suspected Taliban positions Thursday in Orakzai, a relatively peaceful district in the country's lawless tribal region littered with Taliban sanctuaries.

The raids flattened several militant hideouts in the Ferozkhel and Ghiljo areas, killing at least 24 insurgents, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

The death toll could not be verified independently, but The News daily on Friday cited a Taliban spokesman as confirming that the rebels suffered 18 casualties.

Elsewhere in the troubled region, four policemen were killed late Thursday when insurgents attacked a security checkpoint near Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district on the Afghan border, another security official said.

A major offensive in Bajaur last year left more than 1,500 militants dead.