By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed five terrorists, including a commander, in a raid on a militant hideout in the restive North Waziristan region on Saturday, the military said.
The operation was launched after receiving intelligence reports about the presence of terrorists in the Mir Ali area, according to a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
“An intense exchange of fire took place during the operation and five terrorists, including their commander, Rahzaib Khuray, were sent to hell.”
The ISPR said the slain terrorists were involved in various attacks on security forces and civilians, and that weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the site.
The local population appreciated the operation and expressed their support for the security forces. A sanitisation operation was underway to clear the area of any remaining terrorists.
The raid was the latest in a series of operations by the military against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a banned militant group that has been waging a bloody insurgency against the state since 2007.
Pakistan has seen a surge in terrorist violence in recent months, especially in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which border Afghanistan. The TTP ended its ceasefire with the government last year and vowed to continue its attacks.
Pakistan has repeatedly urged Afghanistan not to allow the TTP and other armed groups to use its soil to launch cross-border attacks. Islamabad also initiated a deportation drive at the end of the year to send back all “illegal immigrants,” mostly Afghan nationals, to their country for security reasons.
Earlier this month, 25 soldiers were martyred in two separate incidents on the same day, including a terrorist ambush in Dera Ismail Khan that killed 23 troops and a military operation in the Kolachi and Darazinda areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that claimed the lives of two soldiers.
That was the highest single-day death toll for the military from terrorist attacks this year. Before that, 12 soldiers were martyred in different operations in the Zhob and Sui areas of Balochistan in November.
The country witnessed the highest number of suicide attacks since 2014 this year, with nearly half of them targeting the security forces.
At least 48 percent of the deaths and 58 percent of the injuries from the 29 suicide attacks that occurred in 2023 were inflicted upon security personnel. The attacks resulted in the loss of 329 lives and left 582 people injured.
A 93 percent increase in the number of suicide attacks, a 226 percent rise in the deaths, and a 101 percent surge in the injuries compared to the previous year.
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