ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s security forces have killed 10 terrorists, including a prominent terrorist commander of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group based in Afghanistan, in an intelligence-based operation in Dera Ismail Khan district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Security sources stated that the operation took place on November 16 in the Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan district after credible information indicated the presence of terrorists.
During the exchange of fire, ten terrorists, including their ringleader Aalam Mehsud, were killed, four of whom were identified as foreign terrorists from Afghanistan.
They confirmed that a significant cache of explosives, suicide vests, IEDs, and other weapons was recovered from the killed terrorists.
Further reports indicate that Aalam Mehsud had been involved in multiple high-profile terror attacks, including the 2008 Nawaz Kot post attack, the Bannu jailbreak, and assaults on various military posts.
Dera Ismail Khan is one of the districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where TTP terrorists have repeatedly targeted security forces and law enforcement agency (LEA) personnel.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police and the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Saturday killed seven TTP terrorists in a joint operation in Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has warned the Afghanistan’s Taliban regime to clamp down on terrorist groups based in Afghanistan and involved in cross-border terrorism. The minister said that cross-border terror attacks are undermining Pakistan’s hard-won peace.
Since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, Pakistan has faced a sharp rise in terrorist attacks launched from Afghan territory. Analysts say the TTP has rebuilt and expanded its operational infrastructure under Taliban regime protection, directing attacks against civilians, security forces, and border posts across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Security experts warn that the Taliban’s continued sheltering of TTP and other anti-Pakistan terrorists risks plunging the region into a new cycle of instability.
Islamabad, they add, is running out of patience after repeated diplomatic efforts failed to persuade Kabul to curb cross-border terrorism.
