ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s army chief vowed on Friday to continue pursuing militant groups he said were sponsored by India during a visit to the country’s northwest, where escalating violence has prompted the federal government to impose emergency rule.

Pakistan blames much of the violence in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Islamabad says TTP fighters operate from neighboring Afghanistan and accuses India of backing militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan. Afghanistan’s Taliban government denies allowing militants to use its territory for attacks, while India denies supporting them.

The army chief’s visit came a day after four police officers, including a senior counterterrorism officer, were killed in a gunbattle with suspected militants in the province’s Karak district. Two suspected militants also died, police said. Pakistan imposed emergency and governor’s rule in the province on Oct. 11, removing the elected government led by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI opposition party.

At the army’s corps headquarters in Peshawar on Friday, Field Marshal Asim Munir was briefed on counterterrorism operations, border management and the readiness of troops deployed in the province, the military’s media wing, ISPR, said.

The statement said Munir underscored that “we will continue the campaign against Indian sponsored terrorist outfits to the fullest and hit them hard wherever they are.”

ISPR did not identify the groups Munir was referring to or announce a new operation.

The army chief’s visit followed a security meeting in Peshawar chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday, where he defended emergency rule and blamed the former provincial administration for failing to contain militancy.

The federal government says it imposed emergency rule because militant attacks had intensified and the former provincial administration had failed to cooperate in counterterrorism efforts. The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party rejects that account and says its removal from power was politically motivated. Under the emergency measures, executive powers were transferred to Governor Faisal Karim Kundi.