Security forces have killed 22 India-sponsored terrorists during an area sanitisation operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) North Waziristan district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Tuesday.
The operation has been underway since May 17 in the Shewa general area of North Waziristan, launched on the basis of what the ISPR described as “credible intelligence leads with respect to the presence of khwarij” a term the state uses for members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also referred to as Fitna-al-Khwarij.
Troops “effectively engaged khwarij location and after [an] intense exchange of fire, 22 khwarij belonging to Indian sponsored Fitna-al-Khwarij have [been] sent to hell” in the last 24 hours, the ISPR noted.
Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from those killed, who the military said had been involved in terrorist activities across the area.
The ISPR further revealed that the killed terrorists had used locals as human shields, coercing and intimidating residents to obtain safe passage.
“Such deplorable acts are highly condemnable and no justification can rationalise the endangerment of public lives,” the military stated.
The operation remains ongoing, with security forces having cordoned off the area to eliminate what the ISPR called “holed up khwarij”.
The military reaffirmed that its counter-terrorism campaign under Operation Azm-i-Istehkam approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan would continue “at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country”.
Pakistan has seen a rise in militancy, particularly in KP and Balochistan, since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly pressed the Taliban administration to dismantle TTP sanctuaries on Afghan soil, though officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.
Last week, five soldiers including a major-ranked officer were martyred during a sanitisation operation in Balochistan’s Barkhan district. A follow-up operation led to the arrest of three militant commanders and the killing of 35 operatives, the Balochistan government said.
Earlier this month, security forces killed five terrorists in two separate engagements in KP’s Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts. In early April, eight terrorists were killed near the Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan.
