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Pakistan says 35 militants killed in counterterrorism operations near Afghan border

By The South Asia Times

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s military said on Wednesday that security forces had killed 35 militants in a series of intelligence-based operations in the country’s northwest and southwest, as part of an ongoing counterterrorism campaign.

In a statement, the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said operations were carried out over the past several days in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

According to the statement, 26 militants described as members of “Fitna Al Khwarij” were killed in four separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Feb. 24. Eight others, identified as belonging to “Fitna Al Hindustan,” were killed during an operation in the Sambaza area of Zhob district in Balochistan.

Security forces also intercepted a group attempting to infiltrate across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the Hassan Khel area of North Waziristan. One militant, identified by authorities as an Afghan national, was killed in that operation.

Additional intelligence-based raids were conducted in Lakki Marwat, Bannu and Mir Ali, where several more militants were killed following exchanges of fire, the military said. Weapons and ammunition were recovered from the sites.

The ISPR said the operations are part of Pakistan’s broader counterterrorism drive under the “Azm-e-Istehkam” strategy, aimed at eliminating what it described as foreign-sponsored militancy. Clearance operations are continuing in affected areas, the statement added.