RAWALPINDI (The Thursday Times) — Security forces killed six terrorists in an intelligence-based operation in the Zarkani area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district, while two soldiers were martyred in an exchange of fire, the military’s media wing said on Sunday.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the operation was carried out on Saturday on the reported presence of terrorists it described as “India-sponsored khawarij”, a reference to Fitna al-Khawarij, the state’s designation for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Six terrorists were killed, ISPR said, adding that they had been involved in numerous attacks on security forces and law enforcement agencies and in the killing of civilians. Weapons and ammunition were recovered from them.
Two soldiers martyred
ISPR said Naik Ghulam Murtaza, 36, a resident of Gujrat, and Sepoy Taseer Ahmed, 30, a resident of Talagang, “fought gallantly” and “embraced martyrdom” during the exchange of fire.
A sanitisation operation is under way to clear the area of any remaining terrorists. ISPR said the counter-terrorism campaign under the “Azm-i-Istehkam” vision would continue “at full pace”, and that the soldiers’ sacrifices reinforced the country’s “unwavering commitment to safeguarding our nation at all costs”.
Rising violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Earlier this month, security forces killed eight terrorists in another intelligence-based operation in Dera Ismail Khan, state media reported, citing security sources. On Friday, during a visit to the Corps Headquarters in Peshawar, Field Marshal Asim Munir, the Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff, vowed to pursue India-sponsored groups “to the fullest” and to “hit them hard wherever they are”.
Terrorist violence has risen across the province. The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies recorded 54 terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, excluding the merged districts, in August, up from 36 in July. A report by the Centre for Research and Security Studies found that violence-linked fatalities rose by 83 per cent in the third quarter of 2026, with Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounting for 98 per cent of them.∎
