A successful operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district saw 22 terrorists killed and several injured by Pakistani forces on Thursday, according to security sources.

Pakistan has lately witnessed a surge in terror activities, particularly in KP and Balochistan. The spike in incidents followed the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ending a ceasefire with the government in November 2022 and vowing to attack security forces, police, and personnel of law enforcement agencies.

The intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Bajaur’s village of Gadar was termed a “major success” by the security sources in a statement on Friday.

“The operation was carried out based on highly classified information”, the statement said.

Providing further details of the operation, security sources added in the statement that “last night, they received confirmed information about the presence of a large number of khawarij in Gadar village of Bajaur.”

Khawarij and Fitna-al-Khawarij are terms the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned TTP.

“As soon as the information was received, the forces carried out an extremely effective and targeted operation, during which 22 terrorists were killed.”

The statement continued that with the cooperation of tribal elders, the village had already been evacuated by the locals, with the khawarij hiding in the empty village.

“At the time of the military operation, all the houses around the target were empty, due to which no civilians were harmed,” the sources added.

“The nation of Pakistan and its security agencies are united to completely eliminate this scourge of terrorism, and these operations will continue until the last terrorist is eliminated,” the statement said.

Last week, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported that at least three terrorists had been killed in two separate operations in KP.

In October, security forces killed another 22 terrorists, including TTP’s second-in-command, in three separate operations in KP and Balochistan, according to the military’s media wing.

Earlier the same month, 34 “India-backed” terrorists were killed in multiple operations across the province, the ISPR said.