—— Military’s media wing says 12 terrorists “sent to hell” while more injured
—— 4 soldiers martyred during the operation
—— Soldiers fought gallantly against terrorists
—— ISPR says Afghan govt expected to fulfil obligations
—— Maintains Forces successfully foil TTP incursion at Pak, Afghan border
RAWALPINDI: Four soldiers were martyred and 12 terrorists killed in an operation to repulse militants from Khyber Pakh-tunkhwa’s Chitral district on Wednesday, according to the military’s media wing.
The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release said that a “large group of terrorists equipped with latest weapons” at-tacked two military posts located close to the Afghanistan border in Chitral district’s general area of Kalash. “Terrorists’ movement and concentration in Gawardesh, Pitigal, Barg-i-Matal and Batash areas of Nuristan and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan had al-ready been picked up and were timely shared with Interim Afghan Government.
“Owing to heightened threat environment, own posts were already on high alert. The valiant soldiers fought bravely and re-pulsed the attacks inflicting heavy casualties to the terrorists. During the fire exchange, twelve terrorists were sent to hell, while a large number has been critically injured,” the ISPR said. It added that four soldiers “fought gallantly” during the exchange of fire and were martyred.
The press release said the area was being sanitised to eliminate any other terrorists found in the vicinity.
“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our soldiers further strengthen our resolve. The brave people of Chitral also stand firmly with the security forces in not allowing the terrorists to ruin the peace of the area,” the ISPR said. The press release added that the interim Afghan government was “expected to fulfil its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for perpetuating acts of terrorism against Pakistan”.
The banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group claimed responsibility for the attacks on the military posts. Meanwhile, Lower Chitral Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ali told media.com that seven soldiers and over 40 terrorists were injured in the skirmish.
Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities in recent months, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the outlawed TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year.
On August 22, six soldiers embraced martyrdom in an exchange of fire in South Waziristan district, the military’s media wing said last week. At least four terrorists were killed in the gun battle. Last month, as many as 12 soldiers of the Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom in separate military operations in the Zhob and Sui areas of Balochistan.
That was the military’s highest single-day death toll from terrorist attacks reported this year. Before this, 10 personnel were mar-tyred in a ‘fire raid’ in Balochistan’s Kech district in February 2022.
A report released in July by the think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies said the first half of the current year witnessed a steady and alarming rise in terror and suicide attacks, claiming the lives of 389 people across the country.
Amid the rise in militancy is a backdrop of growing concerns regarding cross-border terrorism by elements based in Afghani-stan.
Pakistan’s military leadership and former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose tenure ended last month, both raised concerns over the availability of “safe havens” and “liberty of action” available to militants in Afghanistan, saying there was also involvement of Afghan citizens in terror attacks in Pakistan. They had also urged Kabul for action.
In the initial response to these allegations, Taliban spokesperson in Qatar Suhail Shaheen had told meida that Kabul was com-mitted not to allow anyone to use the soil of Afghanistan against any other country.
But in a separate interview with BBC Pashto, another spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, Zabiullah Mujahid, took a harsher line — ostensibly in a bid to play to the Afghan galleries — advising Pakistan to resolve its internal problems itself, instead of point-ing fingers at others.
More recently, Afghanistan’s supreme leader had warned Taliban members against carrying out attacks abroad. But merely days later, the Afghan authorities had alleged that dozens of banned Islamic State militants from Pakistan were killed or captured in Af-ghanistan in the past year. –Agencies
