Seven terrorists were killed and six critically injured by security forces in an exchange of fire in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chitral district, according to a press release from the military’s media wing on Sunday.

The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release said the skirmish took place on Saturday in the district’s general area of Ursoon when “troops effectively engaged terrorists’ location”.

It added that the area was being sanitised to clear it of any terrorists in the vicinity.

“Locals of the area appreciated the operation by the security forces and expressed their full support to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country,” the ISPR said.

The operation had come in the wake of Wednesday’s terrorist attack on two military posts in the Lower Chitral district. At least four security men had embraced martyrdom while more than 16 fighters were killed as militants’ attempts to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan were foiled by troops deployed along the border with Afghanistan.

The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack through its spokesperson, Mohammad Khorasani.

Uptick in terrorist attacks

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities in recent months, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year.

On August 22, six soldiers embraced martyrdom in an exchange of fire in South Waziristan district. At least four terrorists were killed in the gun battle.

In July, as many as 12 soldiers of the Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom in separate military operations in the Zhob and Sui areas of Balochistan.

That was the military’s highest single-day death toll from terrorist attacks reported this year. Before this, 10 personnel were martyred in a ‘fire raid’ in Balochistan’s Kech district in February 2022.

A report released in July by the think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies said the first half of the current year witnessed a steady and alarming rise in terror and suicide attacks, claiming the lives of 389 people across the country.