Thirteen terrorists were killed during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s South Waziristan district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Wednesday.

After the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022, the country witnessed a sharp uptick in the number of attacks targeting security forces and other law enforcement agencies, particularly in Balochistan and KP.

According to the interior ministry, in the past 10 months, 948 out of 1,566 terrorism incidents reported occurred in KP, resulting in 583 deaths (out of a total of 924 martyrdom).

The recent operation came after 16 soldiers were martyred on Saturday when terrorists attacked a checkpost in Makeen in South Waziristan, while eight terrorists were also killed as the armed forces responded.

According to a statement by the military’s media affairs wing, security forces conducted an operation in “general area Sararogha, South Waziristan District on reported presence of khwarij” on December 24-25.

The ISPR said security forces effectively engaged “khwarij location, as a result of which, 13 khwarij were sent to hell”.

“Killed khwarij remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as killing of innocent civilians,” the military said.

“Sanitisation operation is being carried out to eliminate any other kharji found in the area, as security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” it added.

In July, the government designated the TTP as Fitna al Khawarij, mandating all institutions to use the term khariji (outcast) when referring to the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Pakistan.

Earlier this month, the interior ministry revealed that 341 terrorists were killed in 2,801 IBOs across 10 months from January 2024.

It added that 800 individuals were placed on the Fourth Schedule under the Anti-Terrorism Act as part of “vigilant monitoring of individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activities” with 400 from Punjab, 203 from KP, 173 from Balochistan, 21 from Sindh and three from Gilgit-Baltistan.