ISLAMABAD: An army major was among three soldiers killed in separate shootouts in northwest Pakistan, the military said late on Friday, a day after nine soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing in the restive region.
A team of Pakistani troops, led by Major Amir Aziz, intercepted an unknown number of militants during an intelligence-based operation in North Waziristan district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
It led to an exchange of fire between the two sides that killed the army major among two soldiers and a militant.
“As result of heavy exchange of fire, two brave sons of the nation, Major Amir Aziz (age 29 years, resident of Sargodha District) and Sepoy Muhammad Arif (age 27 years, resident of Sahiwal District) having fought gallantly, embraced Shahadat (martyrdom),” the ISPR said in a statement.
“Sanitization of the area is being carried out to eliminate the terrorists present in the area.”
In the second incident, a fire exchange took place between Pakistani troops and militants in the Khyber tribal district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the ISPR. The intense exchange of fire left a soldier and a militant dead.
“The killed terrorist remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against security forces and killing of innocent civilians,” the ISPR added.
The shootouts came a day after a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle targeted a security convoy in the Bannu district and killed at least nine soldiers, according to security officials.
Pakistan has been witnessing an uptick in militant violence in its northwestern and southwestern regions that border Afghanistan.
The attacks have increased particularly after the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), called off a fragile, months-long truce with the central government in Islamabad in November last year. The militant group, which is said to have sanctuaries in neighboring Afghanistan, is separate from but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban.
Islamabad says it has time and again raised the matter of TTP with the Afghan Taliban authorities, but there has been a lukewarm response from Kabul.
