PESHAWAR/DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Seven terrorists were killed and a soldier was martyred in different encounters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday, official sources said.

According to the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), security forces carried out an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the Maddi area of Dera Ismail Khan district on the reported presence of armed men in the area on the night between Feb 8 and 9.

During an exchange of fire, three terrorists were killed and two others were wounded.

Sources said the militants killed in the operation were expert in making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and bombs, and they were involved in multiple acts of terrorism. After the operation, the sources said, security forces launched a search operation in the area to track down accomplices of the militants.

Soldier martyred near Peshawar

The ISPR said that another operation against terrorists was carried out in the Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan. The operation triggered an exchange of fire during which security forces shot dead four militants while three others were injured.

It added that a sanitisation operation was being conducted in the area to eliminate any other terrorist as members of security forces were determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appreciated security forces for carrying out a successful operation against the ‘Fitna-al-Khawarij’ terrorists in D.I. Khan and North Waziristan districts, adds APP.

Meanwhile, a soldier was martyred and three others were injured in an exchange of fire with terrorists in the Hassan Khel subdivision on the border between Peshawar and Kohat.

“The operation was carried out by members of security forces,” the sources said, adding that there were rep­orts about casualties among terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, but those reports could not be confirmed.

No statement was issued by the ISPR on the encounter in the Hassan Khel area till the filing of this report on Sunday night.

The subdivision, a previously Frontier Region (FR) Peshawar, is located some 40km south of the provincial capital.

The crossfire erupted around 8:15am during an IBO carried out jointly by the police, Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and security forces in the Rokhan Khel village of Kandao area in Hassan Khel subdivision.

“The exchange of fire continued for hours as law-enforcement agencies surrounded a few abandoned houses. Raheem of the banned TTP and two of his accomplices were killed in the joint IBO,” an official said, adding that a combing operation was initiated but postponed after dusk.

Two killed in Bannu

Separately, two men were killed in the Gurbaz Bakka­khel area of Bannu district, on Sunday, officials said.

They said armed men kidnapped police constable Riazullah of the Utmanzai police station in Wazir subdivision and Habibullah, a resident of Shoikhel Bakkakhel, taking them to the Gurbaz Bakkakhel area where they were killed.

He described personal enmity as motive for the killing and added that an investigation was underway.

The captors also filmed the incident and uploaded it on social media platforms. In a video, gunmen could be seen spraying both captives with bullets, killing them on the spot. However, authenticity of the video could not be verified immediately.

Ghulam Mursalin Marwat in Lakki Marwat also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2025