Four soldiers of the Pakistan Army were martyred during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in North Waziristan, the military's media affairs wing said on Sunday.

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said: "Four terrorists were killed during an IBO in Vezhda Sar, eight kilometres southwest of Boya, Miranshah, North Waziristan district.

"Sanitisation force conducted [an] operation against terrorists' hideout in Vezhda Sar this morning. As soon as the troops cordoned off the area, terrorists opened fire. All dug out terrorists were shot down by security forces," the statement added.

Four soldiers were martyred in the exchange of fire, the ISPR said. The martyred soldiers were identified as Sepoy Muhammad Ismail Khan, Sepoy Muhammad Shahbaz Yasin, Sepoy Raja Waheed Ahmed and Sepoy Muhammad Rizwan Khan.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif paid tribute to the martyred sepoys, calling them "heroes".

"No sacrifice is greater than the supreme sacrifice of life for the motherland. Valiant soldiers of our armed forces who laid down their lives in operation in North Waziristan are our heroes," he said in a tweet.

"The nation will remain grateful to them for their sacrifices."

In May, seven soldiers were martyred in two separate terror attacks in Balochistan.

According to the ISPR statement, terrorists targeted a vehicle of the Frontier Corps (FC) in Mach using improvised explosive devices (IEDs), claiming the lives of six Pakistan Army soldiers.

The martyred soldiers were identified as Naib Subedar Ihsan Ullah Khan, Naik Zubair Khan, Naik Ijaz Ahmed, Naik Maula Bux, Naik Noor Muhammad and Abdul Jabbar.

In a separate incident at Kech, another soldier, Sipahi Imdad Ali was martyred in an exchange of fire with militants.