ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed 11 militants in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday in response to a roadside bombing that killed seven soldiers last week, the army’s media wing said. 

A military truck was targeted by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast on Sunday in Pakistan’s northwestern Lakki Marwat district. An army captain and six soldiers were killed in the attack.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended the captain’s funeral in Chunian city on Monday, vowing that his government would eliminate “terrorism” from the country. 

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a media release that the army launched an intelligence-based operation on Monday night in Lakki Marwat ” to bring perpetrators of the heinous act to justice.”

“Sanitization operation is being carried out to eliminate any other terrorist found in the area as the security forces are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” the army’s media wing said. 

It added that multiple “terrorist” hideouts were also destroyed during the operation. 

In a statement released by his office, Sharif praised Pakistan’s security forces for conducting the successful operation. 

“Security forces have always acted like an iron wall in the war against terrorism,” Sharif was quoted as saying by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). 

“The entire nation stands with the security forces. We stand with our martyrs and the victorious soldiers.”

Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, which borders Afghanistan, has witnessed several attacks on police, security forces and civilians amid a renewed wave of violence in recent months. 

While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the Sunday attack on the military, suspicion is likely to fall on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has claimed dozens of recent attacks.

The South Asian country has witnessed a renewed surge in militant violence in its two western provinces, KP and Balochistan since the TTP called off its fragile truce with the government in November 2022.

Pakistan has blamed the surge in violence on militants operating out of neighboring Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegations and says rising violence in Pakistan is a domestic issue that Islamabad must deal with itself.