DATTA KHEL: Security forces have killed 11 terrorists in the Datta Khel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district during the past 48 hours, the military’s media wing said on Sunday.
In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said security forces carried out a series of intelligence-based operations in the area, engaging multiple terrorist hideouts.
“Following intense and fierce exchanges of fire, eleven khawarij belonging to India-sponsored Fitna-al-Khawarij were effectively neutralised,” the statement said.
The state uses the term Fitna-al-Khawarij for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
According to ISPR, weapons and ammunition were recovered from the slain militants, who had remained actively involved in several terrorist activities in the region.
The military’s media wing added that sanitisation operations were continuing to eliminate any terrorists hiding in the area. It said Pakistan’s security forces and law enforcement agencies would continue their counter-terrorism campaign under the vision of “Azm-i-Istehkam”, approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, to eradicate foreign-sponsored terrorism from the country.
Separately, the Interior Ministry said Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi praised the security forces for the successful operation against what it called India-sponsored terrorists in Datta Khel, North Waziristan.
The ministry stated that the interior minister also commended the professional capabilities of the security personnel involved in the operation.
Earlier this week, ISPR had announced that security forces killed another 22 India-sponsored terrorists in North Waziristan.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have continued to face militant violence, with attacks frequently targeting security personnel and law enforcement officials. In response, the state has intensified counter-terrorism operations across both provinces.
Last week, a major-ranked army officer was among five soldiers martyred during an area sanitisation operation in Balochistan’s Barkhan district.
Following that incident, security forces launched another operation in which at least three commanders linked to Balochistan-based terrorist groups were arrested, while 35 militants were killed, according to the Balochistan government.
Earlier this month, security forces killed five terrorists in two separate encounters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts. In early April, another eight terrorists were killed along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in North Waziristan.