Security forces kill nine India-sponsored terrorists in series of operations

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: The security forces killed nine India-sponsored terrorists in a series of operations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said on Sunday.

The operations, conducted in three districts, targeted individuals the military described as “Indian-sponsored khawarij”, a term for terrorists linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In Dera Ismail Khan, forces engaged four terrorists in an intelligence-based operation, killing them after an intense firefight, the military’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. “After an intense fire exchange, four Indian-sponsored khawarij were sent to hell,” it read. In Tank district, two more terrorists met the same fate, while in Khyber district’s Bagh area, troops “successfully neutralized” three others.

The ISPR said weapons and ammunition were recovered, noting the terrorists’ involvement in numerous regional attacks.

“Sanitisation operations are being conducted to eliminate any other kharji found in the area, as the security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of Indian-sponsored terrorism from the country,” the military said.

The operations follow a surge in terrorists attacks in provinces, bordering Afghanistan Last week, the ISPR reported 12 terrorists from “Indian proxy” groups killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, though two soldiers also died. In Lakki Marwat, five terrorists were killed; in Bannu, two were neutralized; and in North Waziristan’s Mir Ali, a convoy ambush claimed two more terrorists and soldiers Sepoy Farhad Ali Turi, 29, of Kurram, and Lance Naik Sabir Afridi, 32, of Kohat.

The military accuses India of orchestrating these attacks. Last week, ISPR Director General Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry alleged India had activated terrorist “assets” in Pakistan, citing “irrefutable evidence” of state-sponsored operations. “They tasked all their assets … to increase their activity,” he said, pointing to the TTP and other cells.

The security forces operations against terrorists come amid a fraught period in Pakistan’s relations with India. Tensions flared earlier month with a dramatic exchange of missiles and drones, the most significant escalation in decades, sparked by an attack in occupied Kashmir, which India blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denies the charge. A ceasefire on May 10 has done little to ease the strain, with Pakistan pointing to India as the source of several recent attacks, including a suicide bombing in Balochistan this week that killed at least 10 people, including eight children, when a bomber struck a school bus.

Both nations trade accusations of supporting insurgencies, Pakistan alleging Indian backing of Baloch separatists and the TTP, India claiming Pakistani aid to Kashmiri separatists, without public evidence fully substantiating either side’s claims.

The TTP’s 2022 ceasefire collapse has fueled a surge in violence in Pakistan. The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies noted a dip in attacks in April 2025, but the Global Terrorism Index 2025 ranked Pakistan second globally, with terrorism deaths up 45 percent to 1,081 over the past year.