ISLAMABAD: The death of a Pakistan army major in northwest Pakistan has brought the military’s toll to 12 in two days of back-to-back operations against militants, the army said on Thursday.

In the latest incident, an army major was killed in a gunfight in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.

The skirmish, which occurred during an intelligence-based operation in Dera Ismail Khan district, killed seven Pakistani Taliban militants who had been involved in attacks against security forces and civilians.

“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed khwarij (Pakistani Taliban militants),” the ISPR said, adding that a sanitization operation was being conducted in the vicinity.

The development comes a day after 11 security personnel, including a lieutenant colonel and a major, and 19 militants were killed in an overnight gunbattle in KP’s Orakzai district, according to the ISPR.

The Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and other militant groups have frequently targeted security forces convoys and check-posts, besides targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in recent months.

Pakistan’s northwestern tribal regions turned into militant hotspots after the US invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Islamabad launched multiple military operations over the last two decades to push away militants but they have managed to regroup and the threat has persisted in the rugged, mountainous region.

Pakistan has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil and India of backing militant groups for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi both deny the allegation.