Two terrorists, involved in the 2021 Dasu Dam attack, were killed on Friday by their accomplices as they were being transferred from Sahiwal Jail because of a threat alert, a statement from the Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said.

In 2021, 13 people, including nine Chinese engineers and four Pakistani nationals, were killed in a bus attack near the Dasu hydropower plant in the Upper Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to the statement, a total of five terrorists — including the masterminds of the Dasu attack Muhammad Hussain and Ayaz — were being transferred from the jail to another location in two police vans due to security concerns amid a threat alert issued by the interior ministry.

“When the police van approached the Samundri Road, unknown terrorists attacked one of the police vans to free their accomplices from police custody,” the statement said, citing a CTD spokesperson.

“As a result of their firing, two terrorists involved in the Dasu Dam attack were killed,” it said, adding that the two had been sentenced to life imprisonment.

The police and CTD personnel were safe in the attack, the statement added.

Earlier, the CTD said it had arrested 18 terrorists during 134 intelligence-based operations across Punjab.

Pakistan has experienced an increase in terrorist attacks as a total of 45 of them occurred countrywide in September compared to 59 attacks in the previous month, according to a digital database maintained by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based think-tank.

Four terrorists killed in KP: ISPR

Meanwhile, four terrorists were killed in two separate operations conducted by security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 9 and 10, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the military’s media wing, security forces on Oct 9 conducted an intelligence-based operation in the general area of Janikhel, Bannu District, on the reported presence of terrorists.

“During the conduct of the operation, after an intense exchange of fire, two khawarij were sent to hell,” the statement said.

In another operation, conducted in the general area Hassan Khel, North Waziristan District on Oct 10, security forces “effectively engaged khawarij location and in ensuing fire exchange, two more khawarij were sent to hell,” the statement added.

“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed khawarij, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as abductions and target killing of innocent civilians,” the statement said.

It added that a sanitisation operation of the area is being carried out to eliminate any other kharji found in the area “as security forces are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country.”

In July, the government, through an official notification, designated the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as Fitna al Khawarij, while mandating all institutions to use the term Khariji (outcast) when referring to the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Pakistan.