RAWALPINDI/DI KHAN:
Security forces on Saturday eliminated seven terrorists belonging to the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) during an intelligence-based operation in the Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
According to a statement issued Sunday by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operation was launched following reports of TTP presence in the area.
“During the operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location and, resultantly, seven Indian-sponsored khwarijincluding three Afghan nationals and two suicide bomberswere sent to hell,” the statement read.
It added that a sanitization operation was underway to eliminate any other “Indian-sponsored khwarij” hiding in the area. “The security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of Indian-sponsored terrorism from the country,” it said.
The military’s media wing also stated that Pakistan expects the Interim Afghan Government to uphold its responsibilities and prevent its soil from being used for terrorist activities against Pakistan. Khwarij is the term used by security forces to describe TTP operatives in view of their extremist ideology.
Separately, two terrorist hideouts in Upper South Waziristan were destroyed when explosives stored inside went off for unknown reasons, killing six terrorists, including one foreigner, and injuring 14 others, among them seven Afghan nationals.
Local sources said the TTP had been using a primary school in Dwara Hebat Khel and an abandoned house belonging to Syed Rehman Abdul Khil in Tangi Badin Zai as hideouts. Both sites were stocked with a large cache of explosives, IEDs, grenades, and rocket launchers.
Late Saturday night, the explosives detonated, killing Inayatullah, Zakir, Noor Hameem, Saeed Afghani, Khair alias Umar, and Shakir alias Maulvi.
The injured included Ziauddin, Kasani (Afghan), Sohail alias Malangi Mama, Sagheer (Afghan), Shahi (Afghan), Maulvi Qari (Afghan), Siddiq (Afghan), Yousaf Kaka, Saghar (Afghan), Watan Yar, Khairu, Zabiullah (Afghan), Zakaullah, and Sabir alias Mukhlis.
In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appreciated the security forces for successful operation against terrorists in Kulachi.
In the war against terrorism, he said, the entire nation stood with the security forces.
The prime minister reiterated commitment to completely eliminate all forms of terrorism from the country.
