File photo. Abdul Majeed—AFP
At least 11 terrorists were killed in two separate operations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan and North Waziristan, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Monday.
The military’s media wing said security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in D.I .Khan on the reported presence of terrorists. “During the conduct of the operation, after an intense fire exchange, 10 terrorists were successfully neutralized and sent to hell,” it said, adding the slain militants were actively involved in numerous terrorist activities targeting security forces and innocent civilians.
“Arms and ammunition were also recovered from them,” it said.
D.I. Khan has witnessed a significant uptick in militancy in recent months, with seven Customs officers targeted by unidentified attackers in the last six days. Last month, two soldiers were martyred in a suicide attack in the district, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowing to wipe out terrorism in response.
Separately, said ISPR, security forces gunned down a terrorist in North Waziristan. It said locals of the area appreciated the operations of the security forces, who were determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country.
There has been a significant resurgence of terrorism across Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021 and the then-government led by the PTI negotiated an agreement with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan to release prisoners and allow militants to resettle in areas along the Pak-Afghan border. The military and civilian leaderships have both called on Afghanistan to prevent the use of its soil for terrorism against Pakistan, with a decline in ties between the neighboring nations over Kabul’s refusal to do so.