ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces have killed 20 Pakistani Taliban militants in separate engagements in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Pakistani military said on Monday.
The development comes amid a surge in militancy in Pakistan’s western regions that border Afghanistan, which last month triggered fierce, week-long clashes between the two neighbors.
Pakistani forces killed eight militants in an intelligence-based operation in North Waziristan district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
Another intelligence-based operation was conducted in the Dara Adam Khel town that led to an intense exchange of fire with militants, leaving 12 more Pakistani Taliban members dead.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharji (militant) found in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.
