An intelligence-based operation in South Waziristan killed 13 terrorists: ISPR

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported on Wednesday that 13 terrorists were slain during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

After the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a shaky ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022, attacks on security forces and other law enforcement organizations, particularly in Balochistan and KP, dramatically intensified in the nation.

According to the interior ministry, KP has been the site of 948 of the 1,566 documented acts of terrorism over the past 10 months, which have led to 583 deaths (out of a total of 924 martyrdoms).

The latest operation followed a terrorist attack on a checkpoint in Makeen, South Waziristan, on Saturday that resulted in the martyrdom of 16 soldiers and the deaths of eight terrorists as the military retaliated.

The military’s media affairs department said that on December 24 and 25, security forces carried out an operation in the “general area of Sararogha, South Waziristan District, on the reported presence of Khwarij. “Security personnel successfully occupied the “Khwarij location, as a result of which, 13 Khwarij were sent to hell,” according to the ISPR.

According to the military, Killed Khwarij continued to be actively involved in a number of terrorist attacks against security personnel and the murder of defenseless civilians.

The interior ministry said this month that during a ten-month period beginning in January 2024, 341 terrorists were killed in 2,801 IBOs. The government branded the TTP as Fitna al Khawarij in July, mandating that all institutions refer to those who carry out terrorist attacks on Pakistan using the name khariji, which means outcast.

“Sanitization operations are being carried out to eliminate any other kharji found in the area, as the security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” said the statement.

It further stated that 800 people—400 from Punjab, 203 from KP, 173 from Balochistan, 21 from Sindh, and three from Gilgit-Baltistan—were added to the Fourth Schedule under the Anti-Terrorism Act as part of “vigilant monitoring of individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activities.”