Two terrorists involved in targeting of civilians eliminated in North Waziristan: ISPR

As a new wave of terrorism grips the country, security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in North Waziristan eliminating two terrorists involved in targeting civilians, the military’s media wing said on Friday.

The statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that two terrorists identified as Abdullah Khadri and Khalid alias “Janan” were sent to hell after an intense gun battle that ensued after the security forces conducted an IBO upon reports of terrorists’ presence in the area.

The gunned-down terrorists remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area including the target killing of innocent civilians, the statement added.

Meanwhile, the security forces are carrying out a sanitisation operation to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area.

“[...] the security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country”, the military’s media wing noted.

The IBO comes days after two soldiers embraced martyrdom during a gun battle with terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Lakki Marwat district.

The martyrs included Sepoy Muhammad Afzal, 29, resident of district Bhimber, Azad Kashmir, and Sepoy Ibrar Hussain, 27, resident of district Mansehra

Pakistan has witnessed an alarming surge in terror-related incidents since the Taliban-led administration took over Afghanistan in 2021.

The year 2023 saw as many as 586 terror attacks with 17% claimed by banned terror outfits such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Daesh, and others.

Meanwhile, security forces conducted 197 operations against outlaws leaving 537-545 of them dead.

As per the Annual Security Report released by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), the country witnessed 1,524 deaths and 1,463 injuries in the previous year.r