By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed 31 militants in two separate intelligence-based operations in the restive northwest, the military said on Monday, as the country battles a surge in attacks blamed on Taliban-linked fighters backed by India.
“On 13-14 September, 31 khwarij belonging to Indian proxy Fitna al Khwarij were killed in two separate engagements in [the] Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
The military uses the term “Fitna al Khwarij” to describe militants from the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and has also branded Balochistan-based groups as “Fitna-al-Hindustan” to underscore what it calls India’s role in fomenting unrest across the country.
In the first raid, troops launched an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Lakki Marwat district on reports of a militant presence.
“During the conduct of [the] operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location, and after an intense fire exchange, 14 Indian-sponsored khwarij were sent to hell,” the ISPR said.
A second IBO in neighbouring Bannu district left 17 more militants dead in a fierce gun battle, it added. “Sanitisation operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored khwariji found in the area, as the security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of Indian sponsored terrorism from the country.”
The operations came amid a sharp rise in violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and neighbouring Balochistan, where the TTP and other groups have stepped up assaults on troops, police and officials since breaking a ceasefire with Islamabad in November 2022.
The raids followed clashes last week near the Afghan border in Bajaur and South Waziristan districts, where the military said 17 soldiers and 45 militants were killed.
On Saturday, the ISPR announced that troops had killed 45 militants between September 10 and 13, with 19 soldiers martyred in the same operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed at the weekend to press on with a “full force” response to the violence, accusing India of supporting the fighters from Afghan soil.
He said terrorists and their facilitators responsible for attacks in Pakistan were operating from Afghan territory with Indian backing. “The Afghan interim government has been clearly told to choose between supporting the khwarij or stand with Pakistan,” Sharif said.
He warned that “anyone facilitating or advocating” for the militants or “acting as proxies for India” was essentially their agent and would be “dealt with accordingly”. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of harbouring the fighters and New Delhi of financing them to destabilise Pakistan.
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