ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces have gunned down 11 Pakistani Taliban militants in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the country’s military said on Sunday, amid ongoing anti-militancy operations in the region.
The region has seen a surge in violence, with the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and other militant groups frequently targeting security convoys and checkpoints with modern weapons and quadcopters.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said security forces engaged multiple TTP locations in North Waziristan district in continuation of a series of intelligence-based operations in last 48 hours, killing 11 militants.
“Weapons and ammunition have also been recovered from killed Indian-sponsored khwarij (TTP militants), who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area,” the ISPR said.
“Sanitization operations continue to eliminate holed up khwarij from these areas.”
There was no immediate response by New Delhi to the statement.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in its western regions in recent months.
At least 20 people were killed while 25 others were injured when a powerful explosion targeted a passenger train in its southwestern Balochistan on Sunday morning, a senior official said, with separatist militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claiming responsibility for the attack.
A day earlier, 22 militants and two police personnel were killed in a fierce shootout in KP’s Bannu district, according to a senior police official. The shootout erupted during a joint intelligence-based operation conducted by police and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in the Mirian area, following a tip-off regarding the presence of TTP members.
Islamabad has frequently accused India of backing militant groups and Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil for cross-border attacks against Pakistan. New Delhi and Kabul deny this.
