By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Four soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed on Monday in a shoot-out with militants near the Afghan border, the military said, as a wave of attacks on security forces continued across the country.
The soldiers were conducting an intelligence-based operation in the mountainous and remote Tirah valley of the northwestern Khyber tribal district after receiving a tip-off about the presence of “terrorists” in the area, the military’s media wing said in a statement.
“During intense exchange of fire, three terrorists got killed and three injured,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s media wing, said in a statement.
It identified the slain officer as Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Hassan Haider, 43, and the other soldiers as Naik Khushdil Khan, 31, Naik Rafique Khan, 27, and Lance Naik Abdul Qadir, 33.
“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve,” the ISPR said.
It added that a sanitization operation was underway to clear the area of any remaining militants.
The attack was claimed by Lashkar-i-Islam, a banned militant group that operates in the region and is allied with the Pakistani Taliban, local media reported.
The Tirah valley borders Afghanistan and has long been a stronghold of various militant groups, including the Islamic State.
The attack came a day after security forces foiled an assault on a Pakistan Air Force base in Mianwali, in the eastern province of Punjab, killing nine attackers. The attack was claimed by Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan, a group linked to the Pakistani Taliban.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is an umbrella of various militant factions that have been waging a violent insurgency against the state for over a decade.
The group has stepped up its attacks on security forces and civilians since the Taliban takeover of neighbouring Afghanistan in August last year, raising fears of a spillover of violence and instability.
The attacks have targeted security forces and police in various parts of the country, including the restive province of Balochistan, where separatist rebels have also been fighting for autonomy.
The fresh spike in militancy comes at a time when Pakistan has undertaken a massive drive to expel almost two million Afghan nationals residing in the country for decades, without proper documentation.
Some Pakistani officials have blamed the attacks on ‘two neighbours’ of Pakistan, without naming them, and alleged that some of the attackers were Afghan nationals.
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