ISLAMABAD: Nineteen militants and eleven security personnel, including a lieutenant colonel and a major, were killed in an overnight gunbattle in Pakistan’s northwestern Orakzai district, the military’s media wing said on Wednesday, in one of the deadliest clashes of this year.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent years, with proscribed groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) targeting security forces and civilians in the western provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which border Afghanistan.

According to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), militant attacks rose sharply in the past three months, resulting in a 46-percent increase in fatalities — including civilians, soldiers and insurgents — compared to the previous quarter.

The think tank said the year 2025 is on track to become deadlier than 2024, already the most violent year in a decade.

“On night 7/8 October 2025, Security Forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in Orakzai District on reported presence of Khwarij belonging to Indian Proxy, Fitna al Khwarij,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. “During the conduct of operation, nineteen Indian-sponsored khwarij were sent to hell due to effective engagement by own troops.”

“However, during the intense fire exchange, Lt. Col. Junaid Arif (age 39, resident of Rawalpindi), leading his troops from the front, along with second-in-command Major Tayyab Rahat (age 33, Rawalpindi), having fought gallantly, paid the ultimate sacrifice and embraced shahadat [martyrdom] along with his nine men,” it added.

Pakistan refers to the TTP, an umbrella network of various armed groups, as “khawarij,” a term rooted in early Islamic history and used to describe an extremist sect that rebelled against legitimate authority and declared other Muslims to be apostates.

The army said a “sanitization operation” was underway to clear the area and eliminate any remaining fighters.

Orakzai is part of Pakistan’s northwestern tribal districts, which turned into militant hotspots after the US invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Pakistan launched multiple military operations to dismantle insurgent networks there, but the threat has persisted even after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

Islamabad has repeatedly accused India of backing insurgent proxies and Afghanistan of allowing militants to use its territory for attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi have both denied the allegations, though the United Nations has warned of a continued risk of cross-border violence emanating from Afghanistan.