ISLAMABAD: Seven militants were killed while six others were critically injured during a gunbattle on Saturday in Pakistan’s northwestern Chitral district, a statement from the army’s media wing said on Sunday, making it the second skirmish to take place between the military and militants in the district within a week.
Twelve militants and four soldiers were killed on September 6 during a gunbattle in Pakistan’s Lower Chitral area after militants attacked two Pakistan military posts near the border with Afghanistan, the army’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had said. The attack was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or the Pakistani Taliban, who announced its campaign against security forces in the region.
Saturday’s gunbattle between security forces and militants took place in Ursoon area of Chitral, the ISPR said.
“Own troops effectively engaged terrorists’ location and after intense exchange of fire, seven terrorists were killed, while another six were critically injured,” the ISPR said in a statement. “Sanitization of the area is being carried out to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area.”
According to the army, locals in Chitral appreciated the operation carried out by security forces and expressed full support to “eliminate the menace of terrorism” from the country.”
Pakistan’s caretaker foreign minister, Jalil Abbas Jilani, told reporters on Saturday the South Asian nation registered a strong protest with Afghanistan by handing over a demarche to the Afghan charge d’affaires after Wednesday’s attack in Chitral.
“It is the responsibility of the Afghan government that if attacks are occurring in Pakistan from their soil, then it should stop them,” Jilani said, adding that Pakistan expected the Afghan government to prevent the use of its territory for such attacks in future.
“So, our expectation from the Afghan government is that it suppresses all such elements, whether it is the TTP or others,” Jilani added.
Separately, the Pakistan Army had also called upon the Afghan government on Wednesday to fulfill its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil for “perpetuating acts of terrorism against Pakistan.”
The TTP have scaled up attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and southwestern Balochistan provinces after their fragile truce with the Pakistani state broke down in November 2022. Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained as Islamabad has regularly called on Kabul to rein in the Pakistani Taliban and prevent them from launching attacks in Pakistan.