Three terrorists, including Afghan, eliminated in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Law enforcers conducted a joint operation in the provincial capital, killing three Khawarij, a Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) spokesperson said on Thursday, after police faced a series coordinated terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a day earlier.

The spokesperson said the CTD and police hunted down the terrorists, who were the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members, in the Regi area of Peshawar.

One of them was an Afghan national, he added.

According to the CTD spokesperson, the dead terrorists were wanted in 18 cases by CTD and police, including attacks on security forces and police.

In the process, the law enforcers also seized a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives from their possession.

Earlier, the TTP (Khawarij) carried out terrorist attacks on police stations, checkpoints and patrols across seven districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, police officer Mohammad Ali Babakhel told Reuters.

The terrorists used rocket-propelled grenade launchers in some of the attacks, he said, adding five officers were killed and another eight injured.

“Out of 13, we inflicted losses on them, repulsed them and forced them to flee in nine, ten incidents,” Provincial police chief Zulfiqar Hameed told reporters after attending funerals of the police officers in one of the districts. “We suffered losses in two incidents.”

He said the attacks were timed to coincide with the Independence Day celebration.

Later. the TTP, which is closely linked to the Afghan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa came under these planned attacks as security forces are carrying out an operation Bajaur to root out the Khawarij from the area.

On Tuesday, Pakistan and the United States vowed to eradicate terrorism, “reaffirming their shared commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations”.

A joint statement issued after the Pakistan-US Counter-Terrorism Dialogue read, “Both delegations underscored the critical importance of developing effective approaches to terrorist threats, including those posed by Balochistan Liberation Army [BLA], ISIS-Khorasan, and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP].”

Earlier, the US on Monday added Majeed Brigade to the list of proscribed outfits.

At the same time, the previously-proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Majeed Bridgae — is alias — were declared foreign terrorists organisations.

“Today, the Department of State is designating The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its alias, The Majeed Brigade, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and adding the Majeed Brigade as an alias to BLA’s previous Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) designation,” reads a statement issued by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.