Pakistani commandos stand guard during a rally for the 140 victims of the shooting in Peshawar. Photo: AFP

Islamabad: Pakistani jets and ground forces have killed 67 militants near the Afghan border, days after a Taliban school massacre.

The killing 148 people - most of them children - at a school in Pakistan's northwest earlier this week stunned the country and brought cries for retribution.

The military has since struck targets in the Khyber tribal region and approved the death penalty for six convicted terrorists.

Pakistani Muslims pray for children and teachers killed by Taliban militants in the school attack. Photo: AFP

It says its ground forces killed 10 militants late on Thursday, while jets killed another 17, including an Uzbek commander.

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Another 32 alleged terrorists were killed by security forces in an ambush in Tirah valley in Khyber on Friday as they headed towards the Afghan border, the military said.

Khyber agency is one of two main areas in the northwest where the military has been trying to root out militants in recent months.

Khyber borders Peshawar, where the school massacre happened, and militants have traditionally attacked the city before fleeing into the tribal region where police can't chase them.

The other area is North Waziristan, where the military launched a massive operation in June.

In the southern province of Baluchistan, Pakistani security forces killed a senior Pakistani Taliban leader along with seven of his associates in three separate pre-dawn raids, said a tribal police officer, Ali Ahmed.

The news comes after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday announced that he would lift a moratorium on executions in terrorism-related cases.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani prosecutor said the government will try to cancel the bail granted to the main suspect in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks - a decision that outraged neighbouring India.

AP