A paramilitary soldier was martyred and three others were injured when terrorists dropped an explosive device on a check post in Bannu district from a quadcopter drone on Friday, police sources confirmed to The Express Tribune.
Quadcopters have become a new weapon in the hands of TTP terrorists in recent months as they are increasingly using these improvised unmanned aerial vehicles to attack security forces and law enforcers in the southern and tribal districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
In the latest incident, TTP terrorists attacked a paramilitary check-post in the Takhti Khel area of Baka Khel in Bannu. Police sources confirmed that one trooper was martyred and three others were injured who were shifted to a nearby hospital.
Following the strike, paramilitary troops and police cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to trace the perpetrators.
In a separate development, security forces and police arrested 14 suspected facilitators of terrorists and destroyed their three hideouts in a joint operation in the Howid and Wazirabad areas of Bannu. The operation was launched on intelligence reports about the presence of terrorists in Wazirabad and Toodonar areas along the Tochi River.
Three vehicles believed to have been used by terrorists were also seized during the operation. Joint patrols were subsequently carried out in Howid Bazaar and surrounding localities to maintain law and order.
Meanwhile, security sources said that deliberate efforts were under way to spread confusion over the presence of "foreign elements" — described as Khawarij — in Bajaur tribal district, but insisted the ground realities were clear.
According to the sources, Khawarij are engaged in terrorist and criminal activities while living among the local population in the volatile district.
The K-P government, including the chief minister and senior security officials, recently offered three options to tribal elders: 1.) Expel foreign elements — the majority of whom are Afghan nationals — from the area; 2.) If unable to expel them, vacate the area temporarily for one or two days to allow security forces to carry out operations to eliminate the terrorists; 3.) If neither is possible, reduce collateral damage to the minimum, as operations will continue under all circumstances.
The sources made it clear there was "absolutely no question" of holding talks with Khawarij or their facilitators at any level unless they surrendered to the state.
They said that the tribal jirga convened in the area was a logical step to ensure maximum civilian protection before any operation, but stressed that there could be "no compromise" with Khawarij, who were termed "enemies of Islam and the state."
"Neither religion, nor the state, nor the values of the brave people of K-P allow such compromise," one source said, adding that the authority to conduct any armed operation lay solely with the state.
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