Pakistan said Saturday that a predawn assault on a security post and intelligence-driven counterinsurgency raids in its northwestern province bordering Afghanistan killed at least six troops and 22 militants.
The military’s media wing said that the violence occurred in several districts, including Tank and North Waziristan.
The statement identified the slain militants as “khwarij,” a term employed by the government to categorize insurgents affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, a globally recognized terrorist organization.
Area security officials said that dozens of heavily armed TTP militants staged a multipronged attack on the security outpost in the town of Thall, resulting in the deaths of six paramilitary troops and injuries to several others in the ensuing gun battles.
The TTP reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack but did not comment on its casualties in the reported military raids elsewhere.
Intensified TTP-led attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and separatist ethnic Baloch insurgents in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan, have resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives, including many security personnel this year alone, according to official data.
Pakistan alleges TTP leaders and fighters orchestrate terrorism from Afghan hideouts with the support of the neighboring country’s Taliban government, which is not recognized by any country.
Taliban leaders reject the charges, saying they are not allowing anyone to use Afghanistan to threaten other countries, including Pakistan.
