PESHAWAR: Three security personnel, including an army major, and five militants were killed in separate incidents in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, police and military said on Monday, amid a surge in militancy in the province bordering Afghanistan.
Security forces conducted an operation in KP’s Bajaur district on reported presence of Pakistani Taliban militants, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
Five “Indian-sponsored” militants were killed during the operation, while it also resulted in the killing of Major Adeel Zaman who was leading his troops from the front.
“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed khwarij [militants], who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities,” the ISPR said in a statement.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored kharja [militant] found in the area.”
Separately, gunmen abducted Sajjad Hussain, a police constable who was traveling home on leave, in KP’s Tank district and later shot him dead, according to district police spokesman Younus Khan.
“The martyred constable, Sajjad Hussain, was posted at the Nasran checkpoint,” Khan told Arab News. “He was intercepted, forced off his vehicle, and shot on Shah Alam–Nasran Road by militants.”
Another policeman, Assistant Sub-Inspector Mumtaz Ali, was shot dead by gunmen in Pezu area of the nearby Lakki Marwat district.
“The officer, who was posted in Tank, was on his way to his duty station when assailants intercepted his vehicle, forced him out, and opened fire, killing him on the spot,” Khan added.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the police killings, which came a day after police killed eight militants in KP’s Karak district.
Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP in recent years. Militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have frequently targeted convoys of security forces, police stations and check-posts besides kidnapping government officials in the region.
Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing its soil and India of backing militant groups, including the TTP, for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi have consistently denied this.
