A soldier was martyred in an operation which left four terrorists dead in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district, the military’s media wing said in a statement on Thursday.

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), security forces conducted the operation on Wednesday in DI Khan’s Maddi area “on [the] reported presence of khwarij”.

“During the conduct of [the] operation, [our]own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location, as a result of which, four khwarij were sent to hell,” the ISPR said, using the term designating terrorists. However, Sepoy Basit Siddique, 23, “paid the ultimate sacrifice and embraced shahadat (martyrdom)”.

According to the ISPR, weapons and ammunition were seized from the dead terrorists, who were actively involved in terrorist activity in the area.

“[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, and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve,” the statement concluded.

Last Friday, security forces killed two terrorists, including a “high-value target”, during an intelligence-based operation in the Timergara area of KP’s Lower Dir, the military’s media wing said.

The ISPR said security personnel carried out the operation on the night of April 10-11 on the reported presence of khawarij.

The statement said: “During the conduct of operation, [our] own troops surrounded and effectively engaged the khawarij location, and after intense fire exchange, two khawarij, including a high value target Kharji Hafeezullah [alias] Kochwan were sent to hell.”

It added that Kharji Hafeezullah was “involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as the innocent civilians”.

Militant violence and security operations intensified in the country in March, with the number of militant attacks surpassing 100 for the first time since November 2014, according to data released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (Picss).

In KP, at least 206 people were killed — including 49 security personnel, 34 civilians, and 123 militants — while 115 were injured, with 63 security personnel and 49 civilians among them, the Picss report said.