By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed two militants in an intelligence-driven operation in the restive northwestern region of Bannu on Monday, part of a broader push against insurgents that has intensified as the country grapples with a sharp rise in terrorist attacks.
The raid was conducted on Jhandokhel Road near Shagi Machankhel, within the jurisdiction of the Mirakhel Police Station, according to local police officials. Acting on specific intelligence, teams from the Counter-Terrorism Department’s Bannu region, backed by local police and Special Weapons and Tactics units, sealed off the area and moved in. When the militants opened fire, the forces responded, leading to a brief but intense exchange.
A search turned up the bodies of two men identified as Suhail Khan, known by the alias Sangri, and Ismail, who went by Usman. Police said the pair had been linked to several recent assaults, including ambushes on the Sheikh Landik and Fateh Khel police check posts that left eight officers wounded. They were also implicated in strikes on security convoys and an improvised explosive device attack on a building under construction for the Rescue 1122 emergency service.
From the site, authorities recovered an array of items: two Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, assorted ammunition, a motorcycle, two mobile phones, national identity cards and a card tied to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the militant group that has long plagued the region.
Violence in Pakistan’s border region has surged since the Taliban’s return to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021. A report released this month by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, painted a grim picture for 2025: terrorist attacks jumped 34 percent from the previous year, with 699 incidents recorded nationwide. Fatalities rose 21 percent to at least 1,034, while 1,366 people were injured.
A day earlier, insurgents assaulted the Nala Kasho police check post with light and heavy weapons. Police repelled the attack through counterfire, and reinforcements from the Domel and Town police stations, joined by other security units, quickly arrived to secure the area. No casualties were reported among the forces.
The Bannu raid followed a flurry of similar actions just a day earlier, when officials said at least 12 militants — including six affiliated with the TTP — were killed in operations across the Lakki Marwat, Peshawar and Khyber districts. In Khyber District’s Nakay village, near the Shah Kas area, counterterrorism SWAT teams acted on tips about militants plotting an attack on police. Three TTP suspects were killed in the ensuing firefight, though two others slipped away. The forces seized three Kalashnikovs and ammunition from the scene.
In Peshawar, another SWAT operation in the Tapusano Garhi area claimed the lives of three more militants tied to the banned group, with arms and ammunition recovered. The heaviest toll came in Lakki Marwat, where security forces took out six militants in a remote, mountainous hideout. Officials said gunship helicopters provided support in the rugged terrain, and a follow-up sweep was underway to root out any remaining threats.
These strikes followed an earlier operation on Dec. 4 in Lakki Marwat’s Sarai Naurang area, where SWAT units from Bannu and local police intercepted militants on Pardal Begokhel Road. Three were killed: Muhammad Nazir, alias Mujahid; Fawadullah, alias Moaz; and Afnan Khan, alias Afnani. Recovered items included a Kalashnikov, two 9-millimeter pistols, two mobile phones and three cards from a prohibited organization.
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