ISLAMABAD: Three soldiers and 25 militants were killed on Tuesday during an operation to regain control of a counterterrorism department (CTD) facility that Pakistani Taliban (TTP) militants had taken over two days earlier, the head of the army’s media wing said.

The CTD facility in the northwestern town of Bannu was seized on Sunday by TTP militants who overpowered guards and took hostages. An operation to take back the center was launched early on Tuesday afternoon after two days of negotiations failed. Pakistan Army Special Service Group or SSG commandos subsequently stormed the center, located inside a military cantonment.

“During the operation three soldiers, including Subedar Major Khurshid Akram, Sepoy Saeed, and Sepoy Babar, embraced martyrdom, while security officials killed 25 terrorists,” the Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Ahmed Sharif, said in a late-night television interview.

Ten soldiers, including three officers, were injured in the action.

Providing details of the standoff, Sharif said a “terrorist” detained in the CTD complex overpowered a constable on duty on December 18, snatched his weapon and freed 34 other detainees.

“As soon as the terrorists were freed, they took hold of more weapons from the armory and opened fire, killing one CTD constable and injuring another,” Sharif said, adding that the injured constable later died.

“The terrorists then took hostage a junior commissioned officer for interrogation. Meanwhile, upon hearing the sound of gunshots, security forces from Bannu cantonment immediately reached the CTD facility and cordoned off the area,” he said.

The DG ISPR added that immediately after surrounding the CTD complex on December 18, security forces killed two militants and arrested three, while two security forces personnel sustained injuries during exchanges of fire.

“Effective encirclement of the complex by security forces foiled every escape attempt of the terrorists and, for the next two days, efforts were employed to force the terrorists to surrender unconditionally,” he added.

“The terrorists demanded a safe passage to Afghanistan, but it was made clear to them that their demands would not be met. Consequently, on December 20, security forces initiated an operation against them after they refused to surrender, and during a fierce exchange of fire between terrorists and security forces, 25 terrorists were killed while three of our valiant soldiers laid their lives in the line of duty.”

“The Pakistani security forces are determined to uphold the writ of the state and are committed to rooting out terrorism from the country,” the general said. “The great sacrifices of our brave martyred soldiers have strengthened this determination.”

The TTP, which has stepped up attacks since it announced the end of an Afghan Taliban-brokered cease-fire with the government last month, has long used violence in a bid to take over Pakistan and enforce its own harsh brand of Islam.

The TTP’s siege of the CTD center on Sunday came on the same day four Pakistani police officers were killed and another four critically wounded when suspected militants attacked a police station in Lakki Marwat district in the country’s northwest.

On Monday, a suicide bombing killed at least two passersby and a soldier in the northwestern region of North Waziristan. On Tuesday, the TTP said in a statement it had attacked a police station in Wana city in South Waziristan and killed two policemen and captured weapons but police said only one officer had been wounded.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned militant attacks in Bannu and other parts of the country, promising to crush the “wicked effort” of create chaos in the country through “terrorism.”

“The state will not bow before any terrorist group and terrorists will be dealt with according to the constitution and the law,” the prime minister said in a statement.

“Terrorism is a sensitive national security issue, which requires collective mindset and strategy.”

He said the federation will work together with provinces to fight “terrorism.”

“The federation will assist provinces in capacity-building of counterterrorism force and department,” PM Sharif said.

“[We] will work on restructuring of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa counterterrorism department and will fulfill all requirements of our forces.”