Security forces kill four militants in two nighttime raids in northwest, as counterterrorism campaign intensifies

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed four terrorists in two separate intelligence-based operations in the volatile northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media wing said on Thursday.

The raids took place overnight between Wednesday and Thursday in the Dera Ismail Khan and Mohmand districts, according to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations. The four men belonged to Fitna al-Khawarij, the term Pakistani authorities use to describe members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, which the government has long accused of receiving support from India.

In the first operation, troops acting on intelligence about the militants’ presence in Dera Ismail Khan engaged their location. After a heavy exchange of fire, two of the terrorists were killed, the ISPR said. A second intelligence-based raid in Mohmand district resulted in the deaths of two more militants in what the military described as a “skillful engagement.” Weapons and ammunition were recovered from the dead men, who the military said had been actively involved in terrorist activities in the region. Sanitization sweeps were underway to clear any remaining threats.

The operations fit into Pakistan’s broader counterterrorism effort, known as “Azm-e-Istehkam,” which was endorsed by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan. The ISPR said the campaign by the armed forces and law-enforcement agencies would continue “at full pace” to eradicate what it called foreign-sponsored terrorism.

Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly pressed the Taliban government to shut down sanctuaries used by the TTP and other groups operating from Afghan soil, but officials say those demands have gone largely unheeded.

Last month, security forces killed 13 terrorists in a two-day operation in the Darra Adamkhel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including two Afghan nationals linked to the Tariq Gidar group, a TTP affiliate. Tensions with Afghanistan have spilled across the border on several occasions. In October 2025, Afghan Taliban fighters and allied militants launched unprovoked attacks on Pakistani border posts, prompting clashes that left more than 200 Taliban fighters and their allies dead and 23 Pakistani soldiers martyred, according to Pakistani officials.

Earlier, Pakistan carried out “Operation Ghazab lil-Haq,” in which approximately 684 Afghan Taliban operatives and allied militants were killed, more than 900 were injured, and 252 militant checkpoints were destroyed. Despite multiple rounds of diplomatic talks, the two countries have failed to reach any lasting agreement, largely because of the Afghan Taliban’s reluctance to act against the terrorist networks sheltering on its territory. The latest killings come as Pakistani authorities maintain that the threat from cross-border militancy remains acute and that their security forces will press the fight until the networks are dismantled.