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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai to help stop militants escape a major military offensive.
Sharif asked his Kabul counterpart to seal their porous border along a mountainous tribal area where the Pak army has deployed troops and tanks in a long-awaited crackdown on insurgents.
Fresh air strikes early Tuesday targeted three Taliban militant strongholds in Mir Ali town in North Waziristan and killed 13 alleged militants, three security sources said, raising the total insurgent death toll to 190.
Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said Sharif had requested Karzai to help stop the flow of people.
"Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called Hamid Karzai last night to request him for the closure of Afghan border to avoid exit of militants during the military offensive," she told AFP.
"The message was earlier conveyed via military sources and Afghan authorities were also requested for an action against militants' sanctuaries in Afghanistan which are being used for attacks.
"I am not aware about the response of Karzai to these requests," she added.
Thousands of people have already fled across the border into the Gorbaz district of Afghanistan's Khost province, according to provincial government spokesman Mobarez Mohammad Zadran, and are being provided with food and aid.
Pakistan's army has so far lost (martyred) eight soldiers.
Nawaz Sharif urges Karzai to stop militant exodus