30 Militants Killed in Security Operations in Northwestern Pakistan
Pakistani security forces (on Monday) managed to kill 30 militants from terrorist elements during security operations carried out in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region in northwestern Pakistan.
The Pakistani military’s media wing reported in a statement that the security operations were carried out based on intelligence in areas such as Kaki Marwat, Kurram, and Bagh, during which a large quantity of weapons and ammunition was seized from the terrorists. It pointed out that the terrorists who were killed were involved in numerous terrorist activities targeting security forces and innocent civilians. The statement reaffirmed the security forces’ determination to continue combing operations against terrorist elements to eliminate the threat of terrorism from the country.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been increasingly strained following a major attack by the Pakistani Taliban last month in South Waziristan, which resulted in the deaths of 16 Pakistani security personnel.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense stated that most of the casualties in the raids were refugees from Waziristan, highlighting the complexity of the security and population situation on the border between the two neighbors.
Pakistan has previously accused Afghanistan of supporting armed attacks on its territory, a claim denied by the Afghan Taliban. Last March, Pakistan launched similar raids that resulted in civilian casualties, which it described as “counter-terrorism operations.”
Experts attribute the rising tensions to the takeover of power by the Afghan Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021.
At the same time, ethnic separatist groups in the southwestern province of Balochistan have gained momentum in targeting security forces and Chinese citizens involved in projects linked to the “Belt and Road Initiative,” a Chinese investment program in infrastructure. Separatists accuse the Pakistani government of allowing China to extract the region’s wealth.
