Security forces killed 22 India-sponsored terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district, the military’s media affairs wing said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said an area sanitisation operation has been underway since May 17 in North Waziristan’s Shewa general area, “based on credible intelligence leads with respect to the presence of khwarij.”

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

During the operation, troops “effectively engaged khwarij location and after [an] intense exchange of fire, 22 khwarij belonging to Indian sponsored Fitna-al-Khwarij have [been] sent to hell” in the last 24 hours, the ISPR said.

It added that weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed terrorists, who “remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area”.

The ISPR revealed that “evidence further confirms that khwarij coerced and intimidated the local population, forcing their compliance to obtain safe passage using them as human shield”.

“Such deplorable acts are highly condemnable and no justification can rationalise the endangerment of public lives,” the military said.

The sanitisation operation is currently in progress “to eliminate holed up khwarij from the area”, and security forces have effectively cordoned off the area, the ISPR added.

ISPR affirmed that a “relentless counter-terrorism campaign under vision ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’ (as approved by Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country”.

Terrorism resurgence

There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan, especially in KP and Balochistan, since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.

Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned TTP. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

Last week, a major-ranked officer was among five soldiers martyred during an area sanitisation operation in Balochistan’s Barkhan district.

In a subsequent operation launched by security forces, at least three ‘commanders’ of Balochistan-based terrorist groups have been arrested, while 35 of their operatives have been killed, the Balochistan government said.

Due to a resurgence of militancy, especially in KP and Balochistan, where attacks often target security personnel and LEAs, the state has intensified counter-terrorism operations.

Earlier this month, security forces killed five terrorists in two separate engagements in KP’s Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts. In early April, eight terrorists were killed along the Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan.