The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Friday announced security forces and law enforcement agencies, in a joint operation, had killed 22 terrorists of Fitna al-Khwarij during an engagement on April 21.
In a statement, the military’s media wing said the IBO was conducted in Khyber district on the reported presence of khwarij—the state’s term for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It said the operation had incited an “intense exchange of fire and skillful engagements,” resulting in 22 khwarij being “sent to hell.”
According to the ISPR, the terrorists—out of “cowardice and fear of getting apprehended alive”—had resorted to indiscriminate firing, resulting in the death of a 10-year-old child.
It said troops had recovered arms and ammunition from the slain terrorists, who were actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area. A sanitization operation is underway to eliminate any remaining terrorists in the area, read the statement, as part of a “relentless” counter-terrorism campaign launched under Vision Azm-e-Istehkam, as approved by the Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan.
The ISPR vowed that security forces and law enforcement agencies would continue their efforts to counter terrorism at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and -supported terrorism from the country. Sacrifices of “our innocent civilians further strengthen our resolve,” it added.
Pakistan has been in the midst of a terror resurgence, particularly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in August 2021. Amidst mounting attacks, and the repeated failure of Afghan authorities to prevent terrorism emanating from their soil, Islamabad launched Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq, killing around 796 Afghan Taliban fighters and allied militants. According to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, over 1,000 other personnel and terrorists were injured during the operation, while 286 posts of interim Afghan government were destroyed and 44 captured.
The two states are currently in the midst of a ceasefire brokered by China.