The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Tuesday that 15 terrorists were killed in two separate intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In a statement, the military’s media affairs said that the operations were carried out between November 15 and 16, adding that the terrorists belonged to Indian proxy Fitna al Khawarij.
Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
First, an IBO was conducted by security forces in Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan district, the ISPR said, adding that troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location. As a result, ten terrorists, including kharji ringleader Alam Mehsud, were killed, it said.
In another IBO conducted in Datta Khel in North Waziristan, troops killed five more terrorists, the ISPR said.
It said that sanitisation operations were being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharji found in the area, asserting that the counter terrorism campaign by security forces and law enforcement agencies would continue to “wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country”.
President Asif Ali Zardari paid tribute to the security forces for the successful operations. In a statement, he said that work would continue on eliminating foreign-backed terrorists with national consensus.
He attributed the killing of the terrorist ringleader to the successful strategy of the security forces. He further said that political moves to divert attention from the national consensus on terrorism would not be tolerated.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also paid tribute to the security forces. “Under the vision of Azm-i-Istehkam, security forces are achieving great successes against terrorism,” he said in a statement.
“We are determined to completely eradicate all forms of terrorism from the country,” he said.
Last week, the ISPR said at least 24 terrorists were killed by security forces in three separate engagements in KP and Balochistan.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in terror activities, particularly in KP and Balochistan. The spike in incidents followed the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ending a ceasefire with the government in November 2022 and vowing to attack security forces, police, and personnel of law enforcement agencies.
Last month, the Islamabad-based think tank Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) said that violence had surged over the past three months due to a spike in militant attacks and intensified counter-terrorism operations.
