LAKKI MARWAT: Security forces killed five terrorists during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat on Sunday, according to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The military’s media affairs wing said in a statement that the IBO was conducted on the reported presence of “khawarij belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna al Khawarij”.

Fitna al Khawarij is a term that the state uses for banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“During the conduct of the operation, own troops effectively engaged the khawarij location, and after an intense fire exchange, five khawarij were sent to hell,” the ISPR statement said.

Weapons and ammunition were found in the possession of slain “India- sponsored khawarij, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area”, it added.

“Sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other India-sponsored kharji found in the area, as the relentless counter-terrorism campaign under the vision ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’ (as approved by the federal apex committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” the statement read.

Sunday’s operation is the latest action against terrorists in Lakki Marwat, where the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) killed six terrorists during an IBO two days ago.

Prior to that, security forces killed four terrorists in an IBO in the district on Wednesday.