Islamabad: The Pakistani air force has attacked militant hide-outs near the Afghan border killing dozens of people.

This was a counterattack towards the deadly bombings against the security forces in recent days.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed 20 Shiite pilgrims in a separatist province while gunmen opened fire on workers who where administering polio vaccinations and killed three people.

The Pakistani government is now under severe pressure to forcefully tackle the militant activities instead of resuming the peace talks with the Taliban-led insurgents.

The airstrikes in North Waziristan came after the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a bomb blast which killed 26 soldiers.

In another occasion a suicide bomber has killed 13 people, including eight security personnel at the military barracks of Rawalpindi, near the capital of Islamabad.

The Pakistani military in recent years has organized several offensives against the Pakistani Taliban in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

But they had spared North Waziristan. The U.S. has repeatedly struck the area with drone strikes targeting militant commanders.