Pakistani jets and ground forces killed 77 militants in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, the army said Friday, days after Taliban fighters killed 148 people — most of them children — in a school massacre.

The violence at a school in Pakistan's northwest earlier this week stunned people around the country and sparked cries for retribution. In the wake of the violence the military has struck targets in the Khyber tribal region and approved the death penalty for six convicted terrorists. The military said it had carried out air strikes and ground operations Thursday and Friday in the Khyber agency. The military said its ground forces late Thursday killed 10 militants while jets killed another 17, including an Uzbek commander.

Another 32 terrorists were killed by security forces in an ambush in Tirah valley in Khyber on Friday as they headed toward the Afghan border, the military said. Three security forces were wounded in the ensuing shootout, it said. Troops killed a further 18 militants during a "cordon and search operation" in Khyber, the military said.

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— The Associated Press