Security forces have killed 17 terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the military’s media wing said on Monday.
A day ago, the forces had neutralised 54 terrorists while they were attempting to infiltrate through the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the same region. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), this is the highest-ever number of terrorists killed by security forces in a single engagement throughout the campaign against terrorism. According to an ISPR statement, “a deliberate sanitisation operation was conducted in surrounding areas of Hassan Khel, North Waziristan District, along Pakistan-Afghanistan Border.
“During the conduct of the operation, seventeen more khawarij, who were operating [at] behest of their Indian masters, were hunted down and successfully neutralised,” ISPR said. The ISPR added that a large cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives was also recovered from the slain khawarij, a term the state uses to refer to terrorists. “The number of khwarij killed in three days anti [infiltration] operation has risen to 71,” it added. The security forces remain committed to securing the nation’s frontiers and thwart attempts at sabotaging the peace, stability and progress of Pakistan, the statement said.
Separately, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid tribute to the security forces for the operation in North Waziristan. According to Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), the president and the prime minister lauded the bravery of the security forces in separate statements. The president reaffirmed to continuation of security operations until the complete eradication of terrorism.
