Up to 48 people have been killed in an air strike in north-western Pakistan. Pakistani military aircraft have bombed a suspected militant hideout in the volatile Khyber district. Civilians and militants were among the dead and injured. Military officials say, the air strike was carried out after intelligence agencies received a tip off that senior members of the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam were meeting in the area.The Pakistani military has stepped up its operations in Khyber, which is the main overland supply route to NATO troops in Afghanistan. In a separate incident, one Pakistani soldier and six members of the Taliban were killed during heavy exchanges of fire in South Waziristan.