Fourteen terrorists belonging to Fitna-al-Khawarij were killed in an operation by security forces in North Waziristan district’s Datta Khel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media wing said on Wednesday.
Despite heightened military tensions between Pakistan and India last month, militant groups were unable to significantly escalate their activities in the country, according to data released by an Islamabad-based independent think tank.
The monthly security assessment issued by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) recorded 85 militant attacks in May as compared to 81 in April, resulting in 113 fatalities. These included 52 security forces personnel, 46 civilians, 11 militants, and four peace committee members.
“On June 2-3 2025, an intelligence-based operation was conducted by the Security Forces in the general area Datta Khel, North Waziristan District, on the reported presence of khwarij belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna-al-Khawarij,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
The statement added that during the conduct of operation, the troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location and “after an intense exchange of fire, fourteen Indian sponsored khwarij were sent to hell.”
“Sanitisation operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored Kharji found in the area, as the security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of Indian-sponsored terrorism from the country,” the statement concluded.
Last month, security forces killed nine terrorists “sponsored” by India during a series of operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the ISPR.
In July last year, the government, through an official notification, designated the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as Fitna al Khawarij, while mandating all institutions to use the term khariji (outcast) when referring to the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Pakistan.
ISPR Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry had also accused India of activating its “assets” to intensify terrorist attacks in Pakistan, presenting “irrefutable evidence” of Indian state-sponsored terrorism, directed by the Indian military personnel.
“Post-Pahalgam, because of the designs of terrorism that they have, they tasked all their assets, the terrorists operating in Balochistan, and we have credible intelligence for that, the Fitnah-al-Khawarij and the independent terrorist cells … to increase their activity,” he had said.
Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.
