By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: An Army major was martyred in a firefight with militants in the restive northwestern district of Bajaur on Monday, military said, as security forces pressed ahead with operations against insurgents they accuse of being backed by foreign powers.
The officer, Major Adeel Zaman, 36, from the southern district of Dera Ismail Khan, was leading his troops in an intelligence-based raid in the Khar area when he was fatally wounded in an intense exchange of fire, according to a statement from the military’s media arm, the Inter-Services Public Relations. Five militants were killed in the clash, and weapons and ammunition were recovered from the site.
The militants belonged to “Fitna al-Khawarij,” a term used by Pakistani authorities for members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, whom they label as proxies of India. The group has been blamed for a string of attacks on security forces and civilians. “During the conduct of operation, due to effective engagement by own troops five Indian sponsored khwarij were sent to hell,” the military statement said. But in the crossfire, Major Zaman, “a brave officer who was leading his troops from the front, having fought gallantly, rendered the ultimate sacrifice and embraced shahadat.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the security forces for the operation and offered condolences to the major’s family. “The entire nation stood with the armed forces in the fight against terrorism,” he said in a statement
The raid was part of a broader counterterrorism drive under the banner of “Azm e Istehkam,” a national strategy approved last year by top civilian and military leaders to combat a surge in militant violence. The military vowed that the campaign would “continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign sponsored and supported terrorism” from the country. Security forces followed the operation with sweeps to clear any remaining militants from the area. Just last month, in the same district, troops killed at least 22 insurgents in a raid on a village hide-out in Gadar, based on what officials called highly classified intelligence.
The incident in Bajaur comes amid a wave of attacks across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, where militants have increasingly targeted law enforcement. On the same day, gunmen on motorcycles ambushed and killed a police official in the Wanda Jogi area of Lakki Marwat district, about 150 miles south of Bajaur. The victim, Assistant Sub-Inspector Mumtaz Ali, was en route to his post in a private vehicle when the assailants opened fire, according to Qudratullah, a district police spokesman.
Ali, who served as a clerk at a station in the neighboring Tank district, died at the scene. The attackers escaped, prompting a police manhunt. His funeral was held later that day at police headquarters in Tajazai, as authorities vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. The killing followed a weekend of violence in the district, where police and armed locals reported eliminating seven militants in separate clashes.
Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in such assaults since the TTP broke off a ceasefire with the government in 2022, with much of the violence concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern province of Balochistan. Officials attribute the uptick to the Taliban’s return to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021, accusing the regime in Kabul of allowing its territory to serve as a launchpad for cross-border attacks.
Islamabad has repeatedly urged Afghan leaders to crack down on militants operating from their soil, but those pleas have gone largely unheeded, straining ties between the two countries. Tensions boiled over in October when Taliban fighters and allied militants initiated unprovoked firing along the border on Oct. 12. Pakistani forces responded forcefully, killing more than 200 insurgents in retaliatory actions that included strikes inside Afghanistan. But the clashes claimed the lives of 23 Pakistani soldiers before hostilities paused on Oct. 17, after Kabul requested a temporary ceasefire.
Subsequent talks, mediated by Qatar in Doha and later hosted by Turkey in Istanbul starting Oct. 25, aimed to ease the standoff. But the Istanbul negotiations collapsed after four days, with Pakistani officials citing the Taliban delegation’s “illogical” arguments. The border strife has fueled concerns about regional instability, even as domestic threats persist.
In a separate case highlighting the evolving tactics of insurgents, law enforcement officials in Karachi said on Monday that they had thwarted a suicide bombing plot by the banned Balochistan Liberation Army, after rescuing a minor girl who had been radicalized online.
At a news conference, Sindh Province’s home minister, Zia Lanjar, said militants had contacted the girl through Instagram and other social media, feeding her fabricated stories to indoctrinate her. “Terrorists contacted the girl through social media, narrated fabricated stories and brainwashed her,” Lanjar said, adding that she was being groomed as a suicide bomber.
The girl, whose identity was not disclosed, came from a family with no known militant ties; one of her brothers serves in the police. She was added to a WhatsApp group where she encountered anti-state propaganda, according to Azad Khan, additional inspector general of the counterterrorism department. Authorities intercepted her during a routine check outside Karachi as she was being moved as part of the plot. “Because of her age, we do not consider her an accused,” Khan said, noting that her family had been informed and would receive protection.
Federal Information Minister Ataullah Tarar hailed the intervention as averting disaster. “Timely action saved Karachi from devastation,” he said, accusing the BLA of using social media to radicalize vulnerable people and claiming the group supports activist Mahrang Baloch in efforts to destabilize Pakistan. Talal Chaudhry, minister of state for interior, called on social media companies to curb extremist content. “Terrorists are now using social media instead of guns,” he said. “This is not about freedom of expression, it is about protecting people.”
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