By Staff Reporter
PESHAWAR: The security forces killed 13 terrorists on Wednesday in a precision intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the Daraban area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district, the military said, accusing the group of acting as Indian proxies in a campaign to destabilise the region.
The operation targeted members of “Fitna al Khwarij,” a term for terrorists linked to the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), according to the military’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). The statement said the group operated under Indian sponsorship.
“During the conduct of [the] operation, [our] own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location and [as a result], 13 Indian sponsored khwarij were sent to hell,” the ISPR said.
Troops recovered weapons and ammunition from the site, the military added.
The ISPR linked the slain terrorists to a December 2023 suicide bombing in Daraban and the abduction and targeted killings of government officials and civilians.
The raid is the latest in a series of operations amid a surge in terrorist activity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. On September 21, security forces killed seven terrorists, including three Afghan nationals, in a similar IBO in the district’s Kulachi area. That operation neutralized two suicide bombers among the group.
“During the conduct of [the] operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location and [as a result], seven Indian sponsored khwarij, including three Afghan National khwarij and two suicide bombers, were sent to hell,” the ISPR said in its earlier statement. It urged Afghanistan’s Taliban-led interim government to prevent its territory from being used for attacks on Pakistan, highlighting ongoing tensions over cross-border militancy.
Wednesday’s operation ended with a commitment to “sanitisation” efforts to eliminate any remaining terrorists. “[A] sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored 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 ISPR said.
Pakistan has accused India of backing groups like the TTP and Balochistan-based militants, dubbed “Fitna al Hindustan,” to foment unrest.
The uptick in violence, particularly since November 2022 when the TTP ended a ceasefire and vowed to intensify attacks on security forces, has strained Pakistan’s northwest. The group, which seeks to impose a strict interpretation of Islamic law, has a history of deadly assaults on markets, mosques, and military targets.
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