ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s security forces have killed 30 militants involved in an ambush that killed 11 soldiers this week near the Afghan border, the Pakistani army said on Friday.

The soldiers were killed in an overnight gunbattle in Orakzai district, which also killed 19 militants, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s media wing.

It said security forces have been conducting a series of “retribution operations” against the Pakistani Taliban militants involved in heinous incident that occurred in the Orakzai district.

During the conduct of an operation in Orakzai’s Jamal Maya area, 30 Pakistani Taliban militants involved in the Oct. 7 incident were killed after intense fire exchange.

“These successful operations have avenged the heinous act and have brought the main perpetrators to justice,” the ISPR said. “Sanitization operations are being conducted to hunt and eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharji (militant) found in the area.”

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.

Islamabad 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.

On Thursday, another Pakistan army major and seven militants were killed in a gunbattle in Dera Ismail Khan in northwest Pakistan, according to the ISPR.

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.