Eight terrorists of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group have been killed in a joint operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower Dir district, the police said on Tuesday.
Talking to Geo News, Lower Dir Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Bilal Haider said: “The police began the operation three days ago against the Fitna-al-Khawarij in which so far we have reports of eight terrorists dead, with bodies of five recovered and the search for the rest underway.”
The SSP said the clearance operation was taking some time due to the weather conditions and the dense foliage of the area.
Five security personnel and three civilians, including a two-year-old child, embraced martyrdom while several policemen sustained injuries as clashes between security forces and militants continued over the weekend and a day ago in various parts of KP. At least seven terrorists were also killed, officials and sources had said.
In Upper Dir and Lower Dir districts, officials and sources had said five suspected militants were killed and seven policemen injured late on Sunday night during fierce clashes between the security forces and the TTP. They said the exchange of fire in the Dobando area of Upper Dir continued for several hours. Two civilians from Hatnar Dara, caught in the crossfire, lost their lives.
A senior official of the Counter-Terrorism Department of police had told media.com that the bodies of all five terrorists were in police custody. They might have links across the border in Afghanistan, he had said.
In Lower Dir’s Lajbook Dara area, heavy firing broke out between police and militants. Though no casualties were reported from this clash, tension gripped the area as the attackers torched police vehicles, including two pick-up trucks and a car, locals had said. Sharing the footage on social media, the outlawed TTP claimed they had “seized the vehicles and destroyed them”.
In July last year, the government designated the TTP as Fitna-al-Khawarij, while mandating all institutions to use the term khariji (outcast) when referring to the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Pakistan.
Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities over the past years, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.
Recent terrorist attacks have predominantly targeted the police, law enforcement agencies’ personnel and security forces. In response, the state has also intensified its counterterrorism operations.
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