Four Pakistan Army personnel were martyred in exchanges of fire with terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Waziristan districts on Tuesday, according to the military’s media wing.

A statement from the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that Captain Muhammad Osama bin Arshad, 24, a resident of Rawalpindi district, was martyred during a fire exchange between security forces and terrorists in the district.

“During the fierce engagement, own troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location, as result of which two terrorists were sent to hell.”

The ISPR added that he led his troops from the front and “having fought gallantly, made the ultimate sacrifice and embraced martyrdom”.

The banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group claimed responsibility for the incident.

Paying tribute to the martyr, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the war against terrorism would continue until the menace was rooted out.

“The nation salutes the soldiers who stand like an iron wall against terrorists,” he said.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the nation would forever remember the martyr’s sacrifice and extended his condolences to the captain’s family.

Funeral prayers were offered at Chaklala Garrison Rawalpindi and attended by PM Shehbaz, defence and information ministers, Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir and a large number of serving and retired military officers, soldiers and relatives.

“The prime minister remarked that these sacrifices reaffirm our resolve to defeat terrorism in all its forms for a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan. He said that the nation stands resolute against these foreign-abetted terrorists and their facilitators and these adversaries of Pakistan will be comprehensively defeated through a multi-domain strategy based on whole-of-the-system approach,” the ISPR said.

In the South Waziristan incident, the ISPR said 30-year-old Sepoy Asad Ullah, a resident of Mitiari district), 28-year-old Sepoy Muhammad Sufyan, a resident of Dera Ismail Khan district and 24-year-old non-combatant bearer Zain Ali, a resident of Bahwalnagar district “fought gallantly” in an exchange of fire with terrorists and were martyred.

The ISPR said sanitisation operations were being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found in the two districts.

“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve.”

Nine terrorists were killed by the security forces in two separate operations in Khyber and Lakki Marwat districts last week.

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities in the past year, especially in KP and Balochistan after the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.

According to an annual security report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan witnessed 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations in 2023 — marking a record six-year high.

KP and Balochistan were the primary centres of violence, accounting for over 90 per cent of all fatalities and 84pc of attacks, including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations.

Additional reporting by Tahir Khan.