DI KHAN:
At least thirteen terrorists were killed when explosives stored in one of their hideouts in Bannu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) went off on Sunday. In a separate incident, another terrorist was eliminated during a gun battle in Dera Ismail Khan.
According to local sources, Siddiqullah Gurbaz, commander of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had seized the jirga hall of former PTI provincial minister Shah Muhammad Wazir and turned it into a militant base in the Bakakhel area of Bannu.
Terrorists were assembling improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at the site when the explosives detonated, resulting in the death of thirteen people including Gurbaz. A large cache of IEDs, grenades, rocket launchers, and other explosives had been stored at the compound.
Separately. a terrorist was killed in an exchange of fire between security forces and militants in the Khowi Bahara area, on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan.
Security sources said the gun battle took place within the jurisdiction of Khowi Bahara police station.
The deceased terrorist was later identified as Zeeshan, son of Ghazi. Zeeshan was involved in several incidents in Jhangi Chowki and Lakhani areas of Punjab and had become a symbol of fear in the region.
On Saturday, at least 45 terrorists were killed in counterterrorism operations in different tribal districts of the K-P in which 19 servicemen were also martyred. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Gen Asim Munir later attended the funeral prayers for the martyred servicemen.
