13 Indian-sponsored Khawarij eliminated in DI Khan: ISPR

RAWALPINDI: Security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in Dera Ismail Khan, resulting in the killing of 13 terrorists belonging to the Fitna al-Khawarij, the Inter Services Public Relations said on Wednesday, who were involved in targeted killings and suicide bombing.

Sharing the details, the ISPR said the forces reached the area after receiving information about the “presence of Khawarij” — an Indian proxy.

They “effectively engaged the Khawarij’s location” in the Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan, triggering a gunfight which ended with the killing of 13 terrorists, said the ISPR.

Meanwhile, the terms Khawarij and Fitna al-Khawarij are now officially used to describe the terrorist groups like TTP and others.

AFGHANSITAN AND TERRORIST GROUPS

The DI operation came after Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday expressed serious concerns over different terrorists groups operating from Afghanistan, warning that they posed “a grave threat to regional and international peace and security”.

Read more: Pakistan warns of terrorist threat emanating from Afghanistan

“Pakistan is seriously concerned over the presence of more than two dozen terrorist groups inside Afghanistan, particularly the TTP, BLA, Majeed Brigade and ETIM,” Dar, who holds the portfolio of foreign minister, told the OIC Contact Group on Afghanistan.

TARGETTED KILLINGS

On the other hand, , the ISPR said weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the dead terrorists.

About the terrorists killed in the latest operation, the military’s media wing said they “remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in these areas, including facilitation in suicide bombing attack in Daraban in December 2023, [and] abduction and target killing of government officials and innocent civilians”.

Reiterating the determination to root out terrorism from Pakistan, the ISPR further a “sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored Khawarij found in the area”.

Read more: Having the cup of tea in Kabul proved to be very costly: Dar

Dera Ismail Khan is the southernmost district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a region that has witnessed an alarming rise in terrorism after the then PTI government decided to allow thousands of TTP members relocate to Pakistan.