ISLAMABAD: Eight militants were killed when security forces conducted an operation in northwest Pakistan’s restive South Waziristan agency on Wednesday, the military’s media said in a statement. 

South Waziristan served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban and other militants until a few years ago when the army said it cleared the region of insurgents. 

Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in recent months. Emboldened militants have carried out attacks against the country’s law enforcement agencies after a fragile truce between the state and the TTP or the Pakistani Taliban broke down last year. 

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, are a separate insurgent group from the Afghan Taliban, although Pakistan’s militant groups are often interlinked with those across the border in Afghanistan.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said after coming to know about the presence of militants in South Waziristan’s Zinghara area, security forces carried out an operation in the area. 

“During intense exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists including mortar fire, eight terrorists have been killed, whereas two soldiers are injured,” the ISPR said, adding that two children were also killed in the exchange. 

Ties between Islamabad and Kabul have deteriorated over the past couple of months as Pakistan has called upon Afghanistan to take action against militants. Islamabad accuses Kabul of not doing enough to rein in militants who it says are using Afghan soil to launch attacks against Pakistan. 

The Taliban have urged Pakistan to exercise restraint in issuing such statements and have assured Islamabad that it does not face any threats from Afghanistan.