Pakistan army kills 8 suspected militants near Afghan border

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) — The Pakistani army has said that its forces killed at least eight ‘suspected militants’ during an intelligence-based operation near the Afghan border in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Security forces conducted the operation in the Razmak area of North Waziristan district upon the reported presence of militants, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from killed militants, who remained actively involved in terrorist activities against security forces as well as target killing of innocent civilians,” it said in a statement.

Last week, at least six Pakistani soldiers and 12 suspected militants were killed in clashes in South Waziristan district, also near the Afghan border.

Attacks on security forces have increased in recent months in Pakistan, especially in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Following a surge in attacks since the Taliban’s recapture of Afghanistan in 2021, Islamabad has been urging Kabul not to allow militant groups to use its soil as a launch pad to attack Pakistani security forces. However, Kabul rejected Pakistan’s claim that it is doing so, maintaining that none are allowed to use the country’s territory against any of its neighbors.

North Waziristan and South Waziristan districts — once dubbed the heartland of militancy — are among seven former semi-autonomous tribal districts where the army has mounted a series of operations since 2014 to eliminate the TTP, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella organization of several militant groups operating in Pakistan.

Successive operations pushed the TTP toward neighboring Afghanistan and Islamabad claims that the terror network has now set up bases across the border to attack Pakistani security forces.