At least 20 terrorists killed in KP IBOs, says ISPR

At least 20 terrorists were killed by security forces in two separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 8 and 9, said a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Monday. During an intelligence-based operation in the general area of Shawal in North Waziristan, eight terrorists were killed by the security forces. “During the conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location, eight Indian sponsored khwarij were sent to hell,” said the military’s media wing. In July, the government designated the banned terrorist outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan as Fitna al Khawarij, mandating all institutions to use the term khariji (outcast) when referring to the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Pakistan. In the second IBO conducted in the Dara Adam Khel district of the province, 12 terrorists were killed after “an intense fire exchange”. The military’s media wing added that sanitisation operations were being conducted in the areas to “eliminate any other Indian sponsored kharji found in the area”. It added that under Operation Azm-i-Istehkam, approved by the Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan, the security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan “will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country”. In June last year, the federal government approved a reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism campaign, Operation Azm-i-Istehkam. On Oct 16, security for-ces killed 34 “India-ba-cked” terrorists during multiple operations across KP over the course of three days, the military’s media wing said. Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities in the past year, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan after the banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.