ISPR says high-value target among six killed in North Waziristan

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed six militants, including a high-value target, in a raid on a hideout in the northwestern region of North Waziristan, the military said on Thursday.

The operation was one of two clashes that took place overnight in the restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where the army has been battling Islamist insurgents for years.

The military’s media wing, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement that troops engaged the militants’ location in Gharyoum village, resulting in the death of six terrorists, including “terrorist ringleader Hazrat Zaman alias Khawarey Mullah”.

The statement said Zaman was “actively involved in multiple terrorist activities in the area and was highly wanted by law enforcement agencies”.

“Three soldiers were also killed in the operation,” the ISPR said, identifying them as Lance Naik TabbasumuI Haq, Sepoy Naeem Akhtar and Sepoy Abdul Hameed.

In a separate encounter in South Waziristan’s Asman Manza area, another soldier, Sepoy Farman Ali, was killed in an exchange of fire with militants.

“Sanitisation is being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found in the area. Security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve,” the ISPR said.

Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks in recent months, especially in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, after the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year.

Last week, six militants were killed and eight wounded in an intelligence-based operation in North Waziristan, the ISPR said.

In July, 12 soldiers were killed in separate operations in Balochistan, the highest single-day death toll from militant attacks this year. Before that, 10 personnel were killed in a ‘fire raid’ in Balochistan’s Kech district in February.

Last month, a report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) said the number of militant attacks in August was the highest monthly tally since November 2014, when a school massacre by the TTP prompted a major military offensive.

There were 99 attacks across the country in August, killing 77 people and injuring 144 others, the report said.