Security personnel killed six terrorists in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district, the military’s media wing said in a statement on Friday.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), security forces conducted the operation in the Ghulam Khan Kalay area on the reported presence of terrorists.

“During the conduct of [the] operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location, as a result of which, six khwarij were sent to hell,” the ISPR said, using the term designating terrorists.

The statement added that weapons and ammunition were seized from the dead terrorists, who “remained actively involved in numerous activities against the security forces as well as killing of innocent civilians”.

“[A] sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other kharji found in the area as the security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” the ISPR statement concluded.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif commended security forces for their “successful operation” in North Waziristan.

“We will continue the war against terrorism until its complete eradication from the country,” the PM was quoted as saying in a statement. “I, along with the entire nation, pay tribute to the Pakistan Armed Forces for their unwavering resolve in defending the homeland.”

President Asif Ali Zardari issued a separate statement, in which he pledged to continue the operation against Fitna-al-Khwarij and said that the “entire nation is united against terrorism”, Radio Pakistan reported.

The interior ministry paid tribute to security forces for carrying out the operation.

“The efforts of the security forces to establish peace are commendable,” the ministry said on X. “The nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the security forces in eliminating Kharijite terrorists.”

Terror attacks have increased since the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan group broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022.

On Monday, security forces killed 10 terrorists in an IBO in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district, the military’s media wing said.

A statement from the ISPR said security forces conducted an IBO in the district’s general area of Bagh on the night between Sunday and Monday based on a reported terrorist presence.

It added that the troops “effectively engaged” the terrorists at their location, because of which 10 of them were “sent to hell”.

A security report, released last month by the Islamabad-based think tank Pak Institute for Peace Studies, showed that in 2024, the number of terror attacks reached levels comparable to the security situation in 2014 or earlier.

It said that while terrorists no longer controlled specific territories inside Pakistan as they did in 2014, the prevailing insecurity in parts of KP and Balochistan was “alarming”.

It said that over 95 per cent of terrorist attacks recorded in 2024 were concentrated in KP and Balochistan. KP recorded the highest number of terrorist incidents in the country in 2024, with 295 attacks.

Meanwhile, attacks by various outlawed Baloch insurgent groups, primarily the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front, saw a staggering 119pc increase, accounting for 171 incidents in Balochistan, it said.