Security forces on Friday killed eight Fitna al-Khawarij terrorists in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) carried out in the Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media wing said.
In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the Pakistan Armed Forces conducted the IBO in the area on the reported presence of terrorists.
“During the conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged khawarij locations, and after an intense fire exchange, eight Indian sponsored khawarij were sent to hell,” the ISPR statement read.
Security forces recovered large caches of weapons and ammunition from the killed terrorists, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the forces and the killing of innocent civilians, it added.
Meanwhile, a sanitisation operation is underway in the area to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area.
Pakistan has been grappling with rising terror incidents, particularly in KP and Balochistan, since the Afghan Taliban regime took power in 2021.
Since then, terrorists have carried out hundreds of cross-border terror attacks in Pakistan, leading to the martyrdom of soldiers and countless civilians, including women and children.
During the first eight months of 2025, KP alone recorded over 600 terror incidents, resulting in the martyrdom of at least 138 civilians and 79 police personnel.
The most recent attack came earlier in the day, when three police personnel, including a high-ranking official, embraced martyrdom after two blasts hit KP’s Hangu district.
Police said that SP Operations Asad Zubair and two others were martyred when their vehicle was targeted in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack.
The policemen were rushing to inspect a blast site where a blast had occurred.
Pakistan has long urged the Afghan Taliban regime to prevent its soil from being used to launch attacks inside Pakistan.
The cross-border terrorism also resulted in tense border clashes between forces from the two neighbouring countries earlier this month.
Pakistan struck multiple Taliban posts along the border on October 12 after they, aided by affiliated militants, resorted to unprovoked firing.
Pakistan’s retaliatory strikes resulted in the killing of over 200 Afghan Taliban and affiliated militants.
As many as 23 Pakistani soldiers also embraced martyrdom during the clashes.
Security forces also destroyed terrorists’ multiple strongholds in “precision strikes” in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and Kabul.
The two countries have since stopped hostilities after a ceasefire agreement, requested by the Afghan Taliban regime.
Delegations from both countries are scheduled to meet in Istanbul, Turkiye, tomorrow (October 25) to hold further discussions on the agreement.
