https://arab.news/5k3j7
- Militants were gunned down in two separate operations in North and South Waziristan districts in KP
- Security forces say they recovered weapons and ammunition from the militants after the operations
ISLAMABAD: Five militants were killed following an intense exchange of fire after Pakistan’s security forces carried out two separate intelligence-based operations in the country’s restive northwest, said the military’s media wing, ISPR, on Friday.
The operations were carried out in the North and South Waziristan districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“During [the] conduct of the operations, 5 x terrorists were killed after intense fire exchange,” the ISPR said in a statement.
It added the security forces recovered weapons and ammunition from the slain militants after the operation.
“[The] Pakistan Army is determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism from every inch of our territory with an unflinching resolve,” the statement continued.
Last week, Pakistani forces carried out a similar operation in Mir Ali, a small settlement in the North Waziristan district, in which a militant was gunned down who, the military said, was “actively involved in terrorist activities against security forces and the killing of innocent citizens.”
On February 23, the military killed two militants and apprehended two others during an operation in the Spinwam area of North Waziristan. Two army soldiers also lost their lives while fighting the militants.
Waziristan was once a hotbed of local and foreign militants, who were driven out of their hideouts in various Pakistani military operations.
However, with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 and the subsequent influx of fighters into Pakistan, attacks against the security forces have once again surged, particularly after a proscribed militant network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, called off a fragile ceasefire with the government last November.