PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Pakistan’s military says security forces have raided two militant hideouts in regions near the border with Afghanistan, triggering intense shootouts that left six insurgents dead during the Eid holidays.
A military statement said the two raids were conducted early Friday in Tank and North Waziristan districts on credible intelligence information about intrusion and hiding of militants in the areas near the border with Afghanistan.
Security forces also seized weapons and ammunition from the hideout and were carrying out a clearance operation of the area, the military said late Friday.
The military gave no further details about the identity or affiliation of the six dead, but largely militants belong to factions of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is generally known as Pakistani Taliban.
TTP is a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in the neighboring country in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout. The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban, which has stepped up attacks on police and troops in recent months.
Footprints of the Daesh group are also found in the region. Earlier in the week, security force killed a Daesh commander identified as Shafi Ullah in an intelligence-based operation in the Bajur district, another area in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. He was among thee militants killed on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s military has carried out major operations in recent years in the tribal belt along the Afghan border, which served as a safe haven for local and foreign militants for decades. However, militants still carry out attacks in the region.
Pakistani security forces kill 6 militants in separate raids near the border with Afghanistan
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Pakistani security forces kill 6 militants in separate raids near the border with Afghanistan
- Security forces also seize weapons and ammunition from the hideout and are carrying out a clearance operation of the area
Ukraine, Russia exchange POWs for first time in months
- The two sides have in the past conducted several rounds of prisoner swaps
- “Today’s exchange came after a long pause, and it is critical that we were able to make it happen,” Zelensky said
KYIV: Ukraine and Russia have conducted their first prisoner exchange in months, each releasing at least 157 people, both countries said Thursday, amid US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending the war.
The two sides have in the past conducted several rounds of prisoner swaps, one of the rare areas of direct cooperation between Ukraine and Russia amid the four-year war, but last month Kyiv accused Moscow of halting the exchanges.
On Thursday, amid three-way talks in Abu Dhabi, the countries swapped 157 captured soldiers and civilians each in an exchange mediated by Washington — the first since October.
“Today’s exchange came after a long pause, and it is critical that we were able to make it happen. I thank everyone who works to make these exchanges possible,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.
Images he posted showed the released prisoners, their heads freshly shaven, wrapped in Ukrainian flags and smiling amid falling snow.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said among the 157 Ukrainians released “are seven civilians and those whom the Russians unlawfully convicted.”
Zelensky’s aide Kyrylo Budanov said that in the group of the freed prisoners were 19 Ukrainians “who were illegally sentenced, 15 of them to life imprisonment.”
Russia, who said the United States and United Arab Emirates acted as mediators for the exchange, announced earlier it had handed over 157 Ukrainian soldiers and that 157 Russian servicemen were returned.
“In addition, three Russian citizens, residents of the Kursk region... will be returned home,” the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region in 2024.
