Police say two Pakistani Taliban commanders killed in northwest

Pakistani security personnel take position outside an Agriculture Training Institute after an attack by Taliban militants in Peshawar on December 1, 2017. (AFP/File)
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Updated 04 February 2023
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Police say two Pakistani Taliban commanders killed in northwest

  • The slain militants were wanted in connection with the killing of five police officers and were involved in attacks on checkpoints
  • The operation came days after a suicide bomber attacked a mosque within a police compound in the city of Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Pakistani police killed two commanders from a militant group in the country’s northwest, a local officer said Saturday.

Pakistan has increased its operations against militants after a surge in violence by the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, particularly in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The TTP ended its cease-fire with the government in November, ordering its fighters to carry out attacks across the country.

Regional police officer Muhammad Ali Gandapur said the slain TTP fighters were wanted in connection with the killing of five police officers and were also involved in attacks on security checkpoints.

The government had a bounty of $7,259 on the two men.

Police arrested four fighters and recovered gunpowder, hand grenades, electronic detonators and Kalashnikov rifles in the same intelligence operation in Hund village, Swabi district.

The operation came days after a suicide bomber attacked a mosque within a police and government compound in the city of Peshawar, the provincial capital, killing 101 people and wounding at least 225. The attack was one of the deadliest in years in the volatile region.