Two terrorists were killed in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) carried out by security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s South Waziristan district on Tuesday, the military’s media affairs wing said.

A press release from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that two terrorists were successfully “neutralised and sent to hell” after an intense exchange of fire between security forces and militants.

The ISPR said that weapons, along with a large quantity of explosives, were also recovered from the slain militants, adding that they remained “actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area”.

It added that a sanitisation operation was being conducted to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area.

“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe-out the menace of terrorism from the country,” the ISPR concluded.

Last week, security forces killed 10 terrorists in two operations in KP. Meanwhile, two terrorists were killed in an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Panjgur district.

Two terrorists were also killed in an exchange of fire between security forces and militants in KP’s North Waziristan district on Sunday.

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.

According to a security report recently issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan witnessed 432 violence-linked fatalities and 370 injuries among civilians, security personnel, and outlaws, resulting from as many as 245 incidents of terror att­acks and counter-terror operations during the first quarter of 2024.

KP and Balochistan, both bordering Afghanistan, accounted for over 92 per cent of all fatalities and 86pc of attacks, including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations, during this period. Individually, the former suffered 51pc and the latter 41pc of all fatalities in the first quarter of 2024, the report said.