ISLAMABAD: Six militants, including a “high-value target,” and four Pakistani soldiers were killed in two separate shootouts in northwest Pakistan, the Pakistani military said on Thursday, in the latest incident of violence in the restive region.
The first engagement occurred in Gharyoum area of the North Waziristan district in which six militants were killed in retaliatory fire by Pakistani troops, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
The deceased militants included the high-value target, Hazrat Zaman alias Khawarey Mullah, who was “actively involved in multiple terrorist activities in the area and was highly wanted by the law enforcement agencies,” the ISPR said.
“During the operation, three brave sons of soil, Lance Naik Tabbasum UI Haq (age 36 years, resident of District Rawalpindi), Sepoy Naeem Akhtar (age 30 years, resident of District Attock) and Sepoy Abdul Hameed (age 23 years, resident of District Multan), having fought gallantly, embraced Shahadat (martyrdom),” it said in a statement.
In the second incident, an exchange of fire took place between Pakistani security forces and militants in Asman Manza area of the South Waziristan district, which left a Pakistani soldier dead.
“Sanitization is being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found in the area,” the ISPR added.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the North and South Waziristan districts have long been strongholds of the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in militant violence in its northwestern and southwestern regions bordering Afghanistan, particularly after the TTP called off its fragile truce with the government in November 2022. The militant group, which is said to have sanctuaries in neighboring Afghanistan, is separate from but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban.
Late last month, Pakistan lost over 60 people in two suicide bombings that targeted a mosque and a religious congregation, prompting the government to ask all illegal immigrants to leave the country by November 1.
The Pakistani Taliban, responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks in Pakistan since the group’s formation in 2007, denied responsibility for the two blasts. No other group claimed the attacks either.
