By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military said on Tuesday its forces had killed 22 militants linked to India-sponsored terrorism during an intelligence-based operation in the restive northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, marking one of the major engagements in recent months amid a surge in cross-border attacks.
The operation, conducted on Monday in the Bannu district, targeted members of the Indian proxy group Fitna al Khawarij, a term used by authorities to refer to terrorists affiliated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. “During the conduct of the operation, own troops effectively engaged the khawarij location, and after an intense fire exchange, 22 khawarij were sent to hell,” the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military’s media arm, said in a statement.
The statement added that a sanitisation operation was underway to clear the area of any remaining militants. It emphasised that the counter-terrorism efforts by security forces and law enforcement agencies would proceed “with full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.”
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif hailed the operation as a significant victory, crediting it to the broader strategy outlined in the government’s Azm-i-Istehkam initiative, which aims to bolster stability through enhanced security measures.
Sharif said the security forces were achieving “major successes” against terrorism under that vision. “The entire nation stands with Pakistan’s armed forces in the war against terrorism,” he added. “We are determined to completely eradicate all kinds of terrorism from the country.”
The raid comes following an escalating violence in the country, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern province of Balochistan, following the TTP’s decision to end a ceasefire with the government in November 2022. That breakdown has led to a sharp increase in attacks on security personnel, civilians and infrastructure, often involving cross-border elements from neighbouring Afghanistan, where the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
Just a day before the Bannu operation was disclosed, militants struck the headquarters of the Federal Constabulary in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in a brazen suicide assault that left three constabulary members dead and 12 others wounded. The attack unfolded early Monday morning when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance to the headquarters on Sonehri Masjid Road. Security personnel quickly responded, engaging and killing the bomber’s two accomplices before they could breach the facility and cause greater harm.
The assailants appeared to have timed their strike to coincide with the constabulary’s weekly assembly near the main gate, where approximately 400 personnel had gathered, according to accounts from the scene.
Initial investigations, as reported by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan, indicated that all three attackers were Afghan nationals, fueling longstanding Pakistani accusations that militants operating from Afghan soil are fueling the insurgency. The Peshawar incident is the latest in a series of assaults that have strained Pakistan’s security apparatus and heightened tensions with Afghanistan. Officials have repeatedly called on the Taliban government in Kabul to rein in groups like the TTP, which they say use Afghan territory as a safe haven, though Afghan authorities have denied providing such support.
In Bannu, the site of Tuesday’s announced operation, the district has long been a hotbed for militant activity, with frequent clashes between security forces and insurgents. The military’s use of the term “Khawarij, a historical reference to a rebellious Islamic sect often invoked by Pakistani authorities to delegitimise extremists, underscores the ideological framing of the conflict.
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