By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed seven militants, including three Afghan nationals and two would-be suicide bombers, in an intelligence-based operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district near the Afghan border, the military said Friday.
The raid is part of an escalating campaign against groups Pakistan accuses India and Afghanistan of supporting.
The operation, conducted in the Kulachi area, targeted members of “Fitna al Khwarij,” a term used for terrorists linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In a statement, the military’s media arm, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), described the militants as “Indian sponsored.”
“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.
The military said it is conducting a follow-up “sanitisation operation” to root out any remaining “Indian sponsored kharji” in the area, underscoring Pakistan’s resolve to “wipe out the menace of Indian sponsored terrorism from the country.”
Pakistan reiterated its call for the Afghan Taliban-led interim government in Kabul to prevent its territory from being used as a staging ground for attacks. Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have worsened over such allegations, with Pakistan warning the UN Security Council earlier this week that terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan pose a severe threat to its national security.
The operation follows a deadly week in the region, with 12 soldiers and more than 60 militants killed in separate clashes near the Afghan border, according to the ISPR. On September 13-14, security forces killed 31 “khwarij belonging to Indian proxy Fitna al Khwarij” in two operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts, the ISPR said on Monday.
Pakistan has labeled the TTP as “Fitna al Khwarij” and Balochistan-based groups as “Fitna al Hindustan” to highlight what it claims is India’s role in fueling terrorism and instability.
The surge in violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan has intensified since November 2022, when the TTP ended a fragile ceasefire with the government and vowed to escalate attacks on security forces, police, and other law enforcement personnel. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Afghanistan of allowing militants to operate from its soil and India of backing attacks against Pakistan.
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