Security forces killed three terrorists in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district, according to the military’s media wing.

A statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the IBO was carried out on the reported presence of terrorists in the general area of Tor Darra.

It said security personnel “effectively engaged” the terrorists at the location, as a result of which, three were “sent to hell”.

The ISPR said that weapons and ammunition were seized from them, adding that they were actively involved in many terror activities in the area.

It added that a sanitisation operation was underway to eliminate any other terrorists in the surrounding area. “The security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” the ISPR concluded.

Last week, two soldiers were martyred while nine terrorists were killed in two separate engagements in KP, the military’s media wing said. According to a statement from the ISPR, the engagements occurred on Friday and Saturday.

In the first, security forces carried out an intelligence-based operation in KP’s 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.

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.