ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s security forces killed 21 terrorists belonging to the Indian-sponsored Fitna-al-Khwarij during separate operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan, Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan districts between September 3 and 5, the military’s media wing said on Sunday.
According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the latest operations followed a successful engagement along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in North Waziristan District on the night of August 31 and September 1.
The ISPR said that following the earlier operation, security forces located and neutralised another 10 terrorists who had taken refuge in the area. With their elimination, the total number of terrorists attempting to infiltrate Pakistan in that particular group rose to 25, all of whom were subsequently neutralised by the security forces.
In a separate engagement in North Waziristan, security forces detected the movement of another group of terrorists along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. “Own troops effectively engaged” the group, the ISPR said, adding that seven terrorists were killed as a result of a “precise and skilful” operation.
Four more terrorists were killed in two separate encounters carried out in Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan districts, according to the military’s media wing.
The ISPR said the repeated attempts by terrorists to cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan border had once again reinforced Pakistan’s longstanding position regarding the failure of the Afghan Taliban regime to prevent Afghan territory from being used for cross-border terrorism.
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It said the Afghan Taliban regime had consistently failed to ensure effective border management and fulfil its international counter-terrorism obligations. The military said security forces remained “resolute and unwavering” in their commitment to protecting Pakistan’s frontiers.
It added that sanitisation operations were under way in the affected areas to locate and eliminate any remaining Indian-sponsored terrorists. The ISPR said the counter-terrorism campaign under the vision of “Azm-e-Istehkam”, approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, would continue at full pace. The campaign, it added, was aimed at eliminating the threat of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from Pakistan.
