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Pakistani security forces on Sunday claimed to have eliminated four armed fighters including one "high-value target" identified as "Ibrahim"near the northwestern border with Afghanistan, Al Jazeera reported, citing Pakistan's military.
Pakistani forces exchanged gunfire with the fighters during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the Khaisoor area of North Waziristan district, according to Pakistan's military press release. Moreover, troops found a cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives during the raid, the military statement said. They further continued to search the surrounding areas for fighters in hiding, according to Al Jazeera. "The security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country," the military statement said. Earlier, North Waziristan was operated as a safe haven for fighters until the military rooted them out after an attack on an army-run school in Peshawar in 2014 that killed over 150 people, mostly schoolchildren, reported Al Jazeera. After years of operation, the Pakistani army announced that it had cleared the region of fighters but attacks persist sporadically, raising concerns that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has found refuge in Afghanistan and is rebuilding there. According to Al Jazeera, the Pakistani Taliban are a separate group but allies of the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as the US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout after 20 years of war. (ANI)
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