PESHAWAR: Just two days after the killing of six militants in Datta Khel, at least five militants were gunned down and a huge cache of arms and ammunition was seized from their possession during an Intelligence-Based Operation (IBO) carried out by the security forces in North and South Waziristan districts on Friday.

According to local officials, security forces acting on information received about presence of militants in parts of both the districts planned the operations, leading to an intense exchange of fire with militants.

They said five militants were killed and a huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the killed militants.

“In exchange of fire during the IBOs in North and South Waziristan, security forces killed five militants and weapons, ammunition and a large quantity of equipment was also recovered from the killed militants,” read an official statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations, the military’s media wing.

A similar operation was carried out in North Waziristan on March 8 when the security forces killed six militants. The ISPR then stated that the militants were killed following an intense exchange of fire, adding that the killed militants remained actively involved in terrorist activities against security forces and civilians.

Also, a facilitator of suicide bombers was killed and other two suspected militants were arrested last week during an operation carried out by the security forces in Tehsil Mir Ali of the district North Waziristan. On February 26, two soldiers embraced martyrdom in North Waziristan when armed militants had stormed a checkpoint in the Noorkhel area.

Militants accelerated attacks on the law enforcement agencies including security forces, police, paramilitary forces, frontier constabulary and the frontier corps after the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended a ceasefire with the government in November 2022 and ordered its militants to stage attacks across the country, according to a statement from the group.

“As military operations are ongoing against mujahideen in different areas [...] so it is imperative for you to carry out attacks wherever you can in the entire country,” the banned outfit’s statement read while addressing its militants, adding that decision was taken after a series of non-stop attacks were launched by the military organisations in Bannu’s Lakki Marwat district.

On the other hand, senior security officials believe that following the foreign troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, modern weaponry, left by the foreign troops in Afghanistan, fell into the hands of the militants.

They say the sniper weapons or the night vision sights were for the first time by militants in Peshawar on January 15 when militants attacked a police party.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2023