Security forces killed over 20 terrorists during multiple engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa between September 3 and 5, the military’s media affairs wing said on Sunday.

According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the slain terrorists were sponsored by India and belonged to Fitna-al-Khawarij — a term the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The ISPR statement mentioned an engagement in KP’s North Waziristan on the night between August 31 and September 1. Security forces had initially killed 15 terrorists who were trying to infiltrate into Pakistan through its border with Afghanistan at the time.

Following that, 10 more terrorists holed up in the area were killed, the statement said, adding that a total of 25 terrorists trying to enter Pakistan had been killed in that event.

In another encounter in North Waziristan, movement of another group of terrorists along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was picked up by the security forces. “Own troops effectively engaged this group of khawarij. As a result of precise and skillful engagement, seven khawarij were neutralised,” the ISPR statement said.