By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed 11 suspected militants in two separate intelligence-based operations on Sunday in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said, part of a stepped-up offensive against groups the government accuses of foreign backing.
In Lakki Marwat district, the military conducted a raid targeting “khawarij belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna al Khawarij” — the state’s term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. After an intense firefight, five militants were killed, the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement. “Weapons and ammunition were found in the possession of slain India-sponsored khawarij, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area,” it added.
A sanitization operation was underway to clear any remaining threats, ISPR said, saying the action is the part of the broader “Azm-i-Istehkam” counterterrorism drive approved by the federal apex committee on the National Action Plan. The campaign would continue “at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.”
The Lakki Marwat strike marked the latest in a district that has seen repeated action. Two days earlier, the Counter Terrorism Department killed six suspected militants there. On Wednesday, security forces had eliminated four more in another intelligence-based operation. Those raids followed a bombing Friday near the Rasul Khel check post in the Bettani tribal area, which killed at least six officers, including a station house officer, and wounded another.
On the same day as the Lakki Marwat operation, a joint police and Counter Terrorism Department team killed six militants in the Lachi area of neighboring Kohat district, District Police Officer Shehbaz Elahi said. Acting on credible intelligence within the Lachi police station’s jurisdiction, the forces came under fire as they moved in. In the ensuing exchange, all six were neutralized. The dead were wanted for multiple attacks on security personnel and acts of sabotage, officials confirmed. Weapons were recovered from the scene, along with a significant cache of heavy arms. A search operation remained underway late Sunday, with the area cordoned off as authorities hunted for local facilitators.
The operations drew praise from top civilian leaders. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif lauded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police and Counter Terrorism Department, calling them the “vanguard in the war against terrorism.” “We remain steadfast in our commitment to the complete eradication of all forms of terrorism from the country,” Sharif said. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi hailed the Kohat action against the “Kharijis,” saluting the “brave sons” of the police and CTD “for sending six terrorists of Fitna al-Khawarij to hell.” He praised their “professional expertise” and said their ongoing efforts were “highly commendable” for bringing lasting peace to the province.
Pakistan has experienced a sharp rise in militant attacks, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the two provinces that border Afghanistan, since the Taliban regained power in Kabul in 2021. In response, Islamabad launched “Operation Ghazab lil-Haq,” which Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said has killed at least 663 Afghan Taliban fighters in strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan, while injuring 887 others. The operation has destroyed 249 checkposts, captured 44, and eliminated 224 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery guns, he reported. Pakistani forces have also targeted 70 terrorist and support infrastructure sites across Afghanistan by air.
Earlier strikes hit seven camps and hideouts in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost provinces belonging to Fitna al-Khawarij, its affiliates and the Islamic State-Khorasan group, killing more than 80 militants in retaliation for suicide attacks inside Pakistan. The two countries clashed directly along the border in October 2025 after Afghan Taliban and allied militants launched unprovoked assaults on Pakistani posts. More than 200 Taliban and affiliated militants were killed, while 23 Pakistani soldiers died. Multiple rounds of talks since then have failed to produce an agreement, largely because of the Afghan Taliban regime’s unwillingness to act against terrorist groups operating from its territory.
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