Web desk: Three terrorists linked to the Indian proxy group Fitna-al-Khawarij were killed in two separate operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the ISPR said on Monday.
Security forces detected the movement of a group trying to cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan border near Esham, North Waziristan.
The troops engaged them immediately, killing two terrorists. One of the dead was identified as Qasim, an Afghan national who had served in the Afghan Border Police.
In another intelligence-based operation in Tank District, troops killed another terrorist identified as Ikramuddin alias Abu Dajana, also an Afghan national.
The ISPR said these incidents show the continued involvement of Afghan citizens in terrorist activities inside Pakistan.
Pakistan has repeatedly urged the interim Afghan government to manage the border effectively and ensure that Afghan soil is not used for terrorism against Pakistan.
The ISPR added that Pakistan’s security forces are fully determined to defend the country’s borders. A sanitisation operation is under way in the area to eliminate any remaining terrorists.
The counterterrorism campaign Azm-e-Istehkam, approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, will continue with full force to end foreign-backed terrorism in Pakistan.
DG ISPR
Separately, DG ISPR Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told reporters in Peshawar that the decision to establish a Gaza peacekeeping force will be taken by the government and parliament.
He said that Pakistan is ready to protect its borders and people and is completely independent in policy-making.
Regarding the ongoing operations against Fitna al-Khawarij, the DG ISPR said that 1,667 terrorists have been killed so far.
He said that the terrorists collect taxes in the name of Ushr, and most of the operations against terrorism have taken place in Balochistan.
A total of 62,113 operations were conducted this year, and 582 soldiers were martyred. The Lieutenant General said that 206 Afghan Taliban and 112 Fitna al-Khawarij were killed during the previous period of tension. 60 per cent of the attackers were Afghan citizens.
He made it clear that the army does not want to get involved in politics, and the army should be kept away from politics.
