At least seven terrorists affiliated with the banned terror group TTP were killed in an intelligence-based operation in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said on Thursday.
An army Major was also killed during the operation on Wednesday, the military’s media wing said in a statement. The security forces conducted the operation in the general area of Daraban, Dera Ismail Khan district, on the reported presence of terrorists belonging to “Fitna al-Khwarij”, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
The Pakistan Government last year notified the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as “Fitna al-Khawarij”, a reference to a group in earlier Islamic history which was involved in violence.
Seven terrorists affiliated with the outlawed group “were sent to hell”, the statement said.
During the intense exchange of fire, an army Major was also killed, it added. Weapons and ammunition were recovered from the killed militants, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces and law enforcement agencies, as well as the killing of innocent civilians. A sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area. The operation was conducted a day after 11 military personnel, including a Lieutenant Colonel and a Major, were killed in clashes with the Taliban militants.
Violent Clashes Erupt in Lahore
Lahore: Violent clashes between law enforcement officials and members of a radical Islamist party in Pakistan’s Lahore city left dozens injured over the issue of an anti-Israel protest, police said on Thursday. Following an announcement by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to hold an anti-Israel demonstration outside the US embassy in Islamabad on Friday, the Punjab police raided the TLP headquarters here to arrest its chief, Saad Hussain Rizvi. Violence broke out in the city late on Wednesday night after the Punjab police launched the crackdown.
“At least five police constables and over a dozen TLP workers were injured in clashes that continued for several hours,” a police officer told PTI on Thursday.
The TLP, however, claimed that at least one of its workers was killed and 20 were injured in clashes with police.
The officer said the police raided the TLP headquarters at Yateeem Khana, Lahore, to execute an arrest warrant against the TLP head, but were attacked instead.
