43 terrorists neutralised in K-P, Balochistan

ISPR says security forces are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country.

RAWALPINDI:

Security forces neutralised 43 terrorists in various intelligence based operations conducted in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Balochistan this week, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the military, said on Friday.

It said that 18 terrorists were eliminated in the IBOs in K-P, while 25 were killed in Balochistan. These IBOs, the ISPR said in a statement, caused "a major setback to Fitna-Al- Khwarij & other terrorist groups operating in Balochistan".

The statement said that six terrorists were killed in Lakki Marwat district of K-P, and 10 others in two IBOs in Musakhel and Panjgur districts of Balochistan, overnight and on Friday, raising the number of the terrorists killed in the security forces operations to 43 since December 9.

"Since 9 December 2024, 43 terrorists have been sent to hell by the security forces," the statement said. "On night 12-13 December, security forces conducted an IBO in Lakki Marwat District. Own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location and resultantly six khwarij were killed," the ISPR stated.

"In Balochistan, on 13 December, the security forces, after an intense fire exchange, successfully neutralized ten terrorists in two separate IBOs conducted in Musa Khel and Panjgur Districts," the media wing of the military added.

"Since 9 December 24, eighteen khwarij have been sent to hell in K-P Province [and] twenty five terrorists have been sent to hell in Balochistan. These operations will continue till peace in the area is restored and khawrij are eliminated," it added.

The ISPR stated that the security forces were determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country. Meanwhile, President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif termed the elimination of the terrorists on such a large scale a big success of the security forces.

In separate statements issued by the President's Office and the Prime Minister's Office, Zardari and Shehbaz paid tribute to the security forces for conducting successful operations against the Khawarij terrorists in Balochistan and K-P provinces.

Separately, the interior minister revealed the 10-month data of the counter-terrorism operations, saying that 341 terrorists were killed in 2,801 IBOs during January-October period, underscoring the effectiveness of proactive measures in dismantling terrorist networks.

The data was presented in the National Assembly in response to a question asked by the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) lawmaker Hameed Hussain. It said that 2,466 individuals were apprehended and 526 convicted in the same period.

The ministry said that four more terrorist organisations - Zainabiyoun Brigade, Majeed Brigade, Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group and the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement - were proscribed, bringing the total number of outlawed outfits to 82, while 800 individuals were proscribed under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The ministry said 1,566 terrorism incidents occurred in the 10 months in which 924 people were martyred and 2,121 injured. "Of these martyrdoms, 573[martyred] were law-enforcement agencies [personnel], accounting for 62% of the total, and 1,353 or 64%, LEAs were injured," the reply stated.

"Additionally, 351 civilians were martyred and 768 civilians were injured," the ministry stated. Giving a breakdown of figures, the ministry said that 948 people died in K-P, 532 in Balochistan, 24 in Sindh, 10 in Punjab and two in Islamabad.

"Since the Afghan Taliban's takeover of Kabul in August 2021, "a significant rise in terrorism incidents and evolving terrorism patterns have been consistently observed. This data indicates that the law-enforcement agencies have been primarily targeted by terrorists across Pakistan in last 10 months."

The ministry held the operations of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in K-P, the Baloch nationalist insurgency in Balochistan and ethno-nationalist violence in Sindh, responsible for the rise in terrorist incidents since 2021.

"The central leadership [of the TTP] is now based in Afghanistan, posing ongoing security concerns and challenges for Pakistan. The victory of Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA) in the war on terror has emboldened the TTP militants to continue their activities in Pakistan without fear," it said.

It added that the TTP had recently shifted its targets, now focusing more on military and law-enforcement officers, as well as security installations and critical infrastructure, rather than targeting the civilian population.

The ministry also pointed out that the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan resulted in a substantial quantity of advanced weaponry being abandoned with terrorist organisations such as the TTP having seized them, thus bolstering their operational capacity.

The ministry cautioned that terrorist groups posed a significant threat to Chinese development projects such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). "These attacks reveal the terrorists' determination to disrupt state-to-state relations by targeting the interests of one country in the territory of another.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)