The Pakistan Army on Monday said at least 23 militants affiliated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed and seven soldiers died in three separate clashes since Sunday. The gunfight took place in the troubled north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The fighting took place on Sunday and Monday as the security forces increased pressure on the rebels affiliated with the TTP, which has been allegedly operating out of Afghanistan, said a statement issued by the media wing of the Pakistan Army.
“Twenty-three terrorists were sent to hell by the security forces in three separate operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,” it added.
An intelligence-based operation was conducted on Sunday in the Hassan Khel area near Peshawar in which six terrorists were killed and multiple hideouts were busted, the statement read.
However, an officer and a soldier were killed in the clash, it said.
In another operation conducted in the Tank district of the province on Monday, Pakistan troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location, as a result of which ten terrorists were killed.
The third clash occurred in the Bagh area of Khyber district, wherein the security forces killed seven terrorists while two were injured.
However, during the intense exchange of fire, five soldiers were killed.
“A large quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives was also recovered from the killed terrorists, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as the innocent civilians,” according to the army.
It said that sanitisation operations are being carried out to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area.
The army said that the country’s forces were determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism. Pakistan has been pushing Kabul to take action against them but so far it has been of no avail.
(With PTI inputs)
