ISLAMABAD: Pakistan military’s media wing said on Tuesday that security forces have killed 50 “Indian-sponsored” militants belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group in the last four days in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said in a statement that security forces had killed 47 militants in the southwestern Zhob district’s Sambaza area from Aug. 7-9. The ISPR said that on the night of Aug. 10, a sanitization operation was conducted in Sambaza’s surrounding areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in which three more militants were killed, bringing the total tally of militants gunned down to 50 in the last four days.
“Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the killed khawarij,” the ISPR said, using the term Pakistan military frequently uses to describe militants belonging to the TTP. “The security forces remain committed to secure the nation’s frontiers and thwart attempts at sabotaging peace, stability and progress of Pakistan.”
Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence in its western regions bordering Afghanistan since November 2022, after a fragile truce with the TTP broke down.
