By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed eight militants in an intelligence-based operation in the restive Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, the military announced on Saturday, amid a continuing crackdown on Indian-sponsored terrorists.
The operation, conducted on Thursday, targeted members of Fitna-al-Khawarij, a term used by the state to refer to terrorists affiliated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Weapons and ammunition were recovered from the militants, the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military’s media wing, said.
Fitna-al-Khawarij are actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces, LEAs and target-killing of innocent civilians. The raid comes against a backdrop of heightened violence in Pakistan’s northwest, where attacks on security personnel and civilians have surged since the TTP ended a ceasefire with the government in November 2022 and pledged to intensify assaults on the military and law enforcement agencies.
“The operation underscores the strengthened collaborative efforts between [LEAs] and security forces, who have significantly intensified intelligence-driven operations in the region,” the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement. It added that such actions were “meticulously coordinated and synchronised security measures” intended “to constrict the operational mobility of khawarij elements, systematically dismantle their facilitation networks, and curtail their capacity to reorganise.”
The military emphasised that these efforts were yielding “substantial and measurable success,” with ongoing operations aimed at achieving greater peace and stability in the area. A follow-up “sanitisation operation” was underway to root out any remaining militants, the statement said, as part of a broader counterterrorism campaign under the banner of Azm-i-Istehkam, a vision approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan.
“The relentless counter-terrorism campaign … by security forces and [LEAs] of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” it added.
The announcement followed a string of recent incidents in Bannu that have underscored the fragility of security in the region. Earlier on Saturday, authorities foiled a plot by militants to detonate an improvised explosive device at the Dawa bridge in the Basia Khel area, averting what could have been a significant disruption to local infrastructure.
On Friday, gunmen attacked a peace committee office in Bannu, killing seven people, according to police officials. Among the dead was a former militant who had surrendered to the state, referred to locally as a “good Taliban”, along with six of his relatives.
The surge in attacks has been particularly acute in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and neighbouring Balochistan, where insurgent groups like the TTP have exploited porous borders and rugged terrain to stage ambushes and bombings. Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused India of providing support to these militants, a charge that New Delhi has denied.
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