A major of the Pakistan Army was martyred and seven terrorists were killed during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) by security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district, the military’s media wing said on Thursday.
The development comes a day after the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that 11 security personnel, including a lieutenant colonel and a major, were martyred[1] in an exchange of fire between the forces and the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists in KP’s Orakzai district.
According to the ISPR’s statement issued today, security forces carried out the IBO on Wednesday on the reported presence of “khwarij belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna al Khwarij” in the Daraban area of DI Khan.
Fitna al Khwarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned TTP.
During the operation, the ISPR said, seven “Indian-sponsored khwarij were sent to hell” due to effective engagement by security forces’ troops.
However, during the intense exchange of fire, 30-year-old Major Sibtain Haider, a resident of the Quetta district, embraced martyrdom. “A brave officer who was leading his troops from the front, having fought gallantly, paid the ultimate sacrifice and embraced shahadat.”
The ISPR said weapons and ammunition were found in the custody of the slain terrorists, who had been “actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces and law enforcement agencies, as well as [the] killing of innocent civilians”.
A sanitisation operation was being carried out to “eliminate any other Indian-sponsored kharji found in the area”, the ISPR statement said.
It added that the “security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of Indian-sponsored terrorism from the country and such sacrifices of our brave sons further strengthen our resolve”.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi paid a tribute to martyred Major Sibtain Haider, a statement posted by his ministry on X said.
More to follow