Security forces have killed 21 militants affiliated with India-backed Fitna al-Khawarij in a series of operations and clashes across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Sunday.
The military’s media wing said the militants were eliminated during engagements conducted between September 3 and 5.
The ISPR said the latest operations followed an attempted infiltration along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in North Waziristan during the night of August 31 and September 1.
Fifteen militants were killed at the time, while further operations in the area resulted in 10 additional militants being eliminated, taking the total number of militants neutralised from the group attempting to cross the border to 25.
The military said security personnel subsequently detected the movement of another group of militants near the border in North Waziristan. Troops engaged the group, killing seven militants.
In separate encounters, four more militants were killed during joint operations conducted in Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan districts, the ISPR added.
The military said the repeated incidents along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier had reinforced Pakistan’s concerns over the Afghan Taliban administration’s failure to prevent terrorist groups from using Afghan territory for attacks.
According to the ISPR, the Afghan Taliban authorities have also failed to establish effective border controls and meet their international obligations concerning counterterrorism.
The military reaffirmed that security forces would continue protecting Pakistan’s territorial boundaries and confronting militant threats.
Following the engagements, sanitisation operations were underway in the affected areas to locate and eliminate any remaining militants, the ISPR said.
Pakistan has faced a significant increase in militant violence, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
