PESHAWAR: Security forces raided a militant hideout in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, triggering an intense shootout that killed two soldiers and three militants, the military said.
According to a military statement, security forces launched a search operation following the shootout in the district of Kurram in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.
It provided no further details, and the identity and nationality of the slain militants were not immediately known. Kurram, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, is located near the Afghan border.
Since 2017, Pakistan has been fencing the country’s northwestern regions along the border to contain the movement of militants and to curb smuggling and illegal border crossings. Pakistan says it has completed 91 percent of the fence along the 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) boundary with Afghanistan known as the Durand Line.
Shootout in northwest Pakistan leaves 2 soldiers, 3 militants dead
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Shootout in northwest Pakistan leaves 2 soldiers, 3 militants dead
- The incident happened when security forces launched a search operation following a shootout in Kurram district near Afghanistan
- Pakistan has been fencing its border with Afghanistan since 2017 to contain militant movement and curb smuggling
Pakistan arrests suspect arriving from Cambodia amid crackdown on human smuggling
- Suspect worked at an “online fraud company” in Cambodia, later started smuggling people from Pakistan, says FIA
- Pakistan has intensified crackdown against human smugglers after hundreds of migrants drowned near Pylos in 2023
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday said it had arrested a key suspect involved in smuggling humans who had arrived from Cambodia, alleging he was also part of an international fraud network.
The suspect, identified as Zainullah, was arrested by FIA officials when he arrived in the southern port city of Karachi from Cambodia.
Zainullah had traveled from Pakistan to Cambodia in September 2024, a press release issued by the agency said.
“He worked at an online fraud company in Cambodia and later became involved as an agent in recruiting individuals from Pakistan,” the FIA said.
The FIA said it recovered images of multiple individuals’ passports, payment receipts and bank transaction records after extracting data from Zainullah’s phone.
It said the suspect received money through personal bank accounts and a cryptocurrency account.
“The suspect has been handed over to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle, Karachi, for further legal proceedings,” the FIA said.
“Further investigation is underway.”
Pakistan intensified action against illegal migration in 2023 after hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off the Greek town of Pylos, one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Mediterranean.
Authorities say they continue to target networks sending citizens abroad through dangerous routes, following heightened scrutiny at airports and a series of arrests involving forged documents.
Pakistan’s interior ministry said this week illegal migration to Europe has declined by 47 percent this year after its nationwide crackdown, saying that more than 1,700 human smugglers have been arrested in 2025.
