PESHAWAR: Pakistani villagers seeking to avenge a deadly mosque blast have killed 13 more suspected Taliban, the army said today, as helicopter gunships were deployed to support the mob. Hundreds of tribesmen in northwest Upper Dir district took up arms on Saturday, a day after 38 people were killed in a mosque suicide bombing in the region, which sits on the fringes of a six-week military offensive against the Taliban. The militia — known locally as a lashkar — were on Tuesday surrounding two villages where militants are believed to be holed up, the army said in a statement. “Lashkars in Upper Dir secured four villages and killed 13 terrorists,” it said. The army said yesterday that militias had killed 14 suspected Taliban, taking the militant death toll from the uprising to 27. A military official said army helicopter gunships and artillery also pounded suspected militant hideouts in Upper Dir. “The shelling was in support of the lashkar,” he told AFP. “Lashkar men are positioned on surrounding mountains and keeping a vigil on the movement of Taliban militants,” he added.