A soldier of Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom while four terrorists were killed during an intelligence-based operation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, the military said on Saturday.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement said that security forces conducted the IBO in general area Jani Khel of Bannu during which intense fire exchange took place between the troops and terrorists.
“Own troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location. Resultantly, 4 terrorists got killed. Weapon and ammunition was also recovered from the killed terrorists,” the statement added.
The slain terrorists remained actively involved in terrorist activities against security forces and killing of innocent citizens, according to the military’s media wing.
“However, during intense exchange of fire, Sepoy Muhammad Wasim (age 25 years, resident of Khairpur) having fought gallantly, embraced shahadat.”
The ISPR said sanitisation of the area is being carried out to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area.
The latest incident came amid a spike in terrorist attacks across the country claimed mostly by the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which unilaterally scrapped a ceasefire in November effectively ending a start-stop negotiation process brokered by the Afghan Taliban.
The TTP, which was comprehensively defeated in a decisive kinetic operation by the military, has found safe havens across the border in Afghanistan from where the group has been directing its terrorist operations in Pakistan.
Islamabad has called these TTP sanctuaries “red-line” and pressed Kabul’s new rulers to take action against them. Experts believe Pakistan’s patience is running thin due to Kabul’s reluctance to crack down on the TTP bases as Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said during his recent US visit that “all options are on the table” to deal with a resurgent TTP.
Unofficial data show a 51% increase in terrorist violence between August 15, 2021, and August 14, 2022 – almost a year since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul. At least 433 people were killed and 719 injured in 250 attacks across Pakistan during this period.
