The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and security forces on Saturday killed four terrorists — allegedly belonging to the militant Islamic State group — in a mountainous area near the Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan.

According to a CTD press release, the terrorists from the group’s Khorasan chapter (IS-K) were killed in retaliatory fire by a team conducting an intelligence-based joint operation upon receiving a tip-off that the terrorists were crossing the border.

The CTD stated that two hand grenades, two Kalashnikov rifles, six magazine storages, two pistols and dozens of cartridges along with Pakistani currency, identification documents and other valuables were recovered from the terrorists.

Among the slain terrorists were the IS-K’s local commander Mohammad Dawood Yaqoob, Abdullah Khan and Mohammad Laiq Piauddin. A fourth terrorist could not be identified.

The militants, the CTD said, were wanted for being involved in several targeted killings, bomb blasts and attacks on security forces.

It also mentioned that two of the terrorists managed to cross the border and escaped.

The operation

The CTD of the Bannu region in KP received an alert last night that a formation of IS-K terrorists had planned to cross the Pak-Afghan border with the intention of causing terrorist activities.

The CTD statement added that upon confirmation, its special team and security forces launched a security operation in the mountainous area of Dardoni in North Waziristan near the Pak-Afghan border and surrounded the area.

When six suspicious armed men attempted to cross the border to enter Pakistan’s territory, a clash took place between the IS-K terrorists and the security forces. The terrorists opened fire, to which the CTD and security forces responded.

The CTD stated that an hour after the exchange of fire, a search and clearance operation was conducted in which four terrorists were found to be dead.

The operation team did not suffer any loss of life, the press release added.