Two soldiers were martyred while nine terrorists were killed in two separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media wing said on Saturday.

According to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the engagements occurred on Friday and Saturday.

In the first, security forces carried out an intelligence-based operation in Mohmand district during which seven terrorists were “sent to hell” after troops “effectively engaged” them at their location.

However, the ISPR added that Malakand district’s Havildar Muhammad Zahid, 37, and Chitral district’s Sepoy Aftab Ali Shah, 26, “rendered the ultimate sacrifice” and were martyred during the intense fire exchange after “having fought gallantly”.

In another encounter that took place in the general area of Maddi in the Dera Ismail Khan District, the ISPR said troops exchanged fire with terrorists, killing two of them.

It added that weapons and ammunition were recovered from the slain terrorists who were actively involved in numerous terrorist activities.

The ISPR said sanitisation operations were being conducted to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area. “Security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” it concluded.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi paid tribute to the security forces for their successful operations against terrorists, according to a statement posted on X.

Naqvi also paid tribute to the the two martyred soldiers, extending his condolences to their families.

Security forces had killed 10 terrorists on Thursday who attempted to attack a checkpost in KP’s Jandola area.

Earlier this month, 16 terrorists were killed, while five soldiers were martyred as security forces responded to a terrorist attack on the Bannu Cantonment in KP’s namesake district.

Te­r­rorists had rammed two exp­losives-laden vehicles into the perimeter of the Bannu Cantonment in an attempt to enter the high-security zone. Thirteen civilians lost their lives, while another 32 were injured as a result of a mosque and a residential building suffering “severe destruction” due to the suicide blasts, causing the perimeter wall to partially collapse.

February saw a marginal increase in terrorist attacks but a sharp surge in civilian casualties, according to a report published by the Islamabad-based think tank, Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).

According to PICSS, the country witnessed 79 terrorist attacks last month, resulting in the deaths of 55 civilians and 47 security personnel, while 45 civilians and 81 security personnel were injured. Security forces, meanwhile, intensified counter-terrorism operations, eliminating 156 terrorists, injuring 20, and arresting 66, it said.