Security forces have killed 74 suspected militants during intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the military’s media wing announced on Friday.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), operations conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the past 48 hours resulted in the killing of 43 militants, including 35 in Mir Ali, North Waziristan, and eight in Orakzai district.
The military said the operations were part of an intensified campaign to dismantle militant networks and eliminate security threats in the region.
“In a determined effort to eliminate terrorist threats and dismantle the khwarij networks, security forces are conducting a series of intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. These operations have been further expanded to the areas of Mir Ali and Orakzai,” the ISPR stated.
According to the military, security personnel engaged militants in intense exchanges of fire during the operations, inflicting significant losses on their networks.
The ISPR described the encounters as a major setback for militant groups operating in the affected areas.
The statement referred to the militants as Fitna-al-Khawarij, a designation used by Pakistani authorities for members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Security forces also recovered a substantial quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives during subsequent clearance operations.
The seized materials included homemade explosives and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which the military said were intended for use in future attacks.
According to the ISPR, the recoveries disrupted the militants’ plans to carry out further acts of violence.
The military added that sanitisation operations remained underway in Mir Ali and Orakzai to locate and eliminate any remaining militants.
While the ISPR reported a combined total of 74 militants killed in operations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the statement provided details of 43 deaths in the two Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts. A breakdown of the remaining 31 deaths was not included in the available account.
The latest operations form part of continuing security efforts against militant groups operating in Pakistan’s northwestern and southwestern regions.