Two soldiers died and three terrorists were killed in Tank IBO: ISPR

During an intelligence-based operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tank district, two troops died and three terrorists were killed, the army’s media wing said in the early hours of Sunday.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a press release that the terrorists who were killed were still engaged in “many terrorist activities against security forces and innocent citizens.”

The statement said that Naik Muhammad Atiq, who was 39 and from the Chakwal district, and Naik Rajab Ali, who was 36 and from the Attock district, fought bravely before they died.

The ISPR said, “The area is being cleaned up to get rid of any terrorists who might be there.”

“Pakistan’s security forces are determined to get rid of the threat of terrorism, and the bravery of our soldiers makes us even more sure of that,” it said.

A terrorist was killed and three troops died the day before when security forces in the Zarghoon area of Balochistan fought back against an attack on one of their posts.

Since the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke its ceasefire with the government in November, there have been more terrorist attacks in Pakistan, especially in KP and Balochistan.

ISPR Director General Maj. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said at his first press meeting last month that at least 293 people had died and 521 had been hurt in 436 terrorist attacks over the past year.

In KP, 219 terrorist attacks killed 192 people. In Balochistan, 206 attacks killed 80 people, Punjab had 5 attacks that killed 14, and Sindh had 6 attacks that killed 7 people.

He had said that the army and police had done 8,269 intelligence-based operations the year before, during which 1378 suspected attackers were caught and 157 were killed.

The DG ISPR also said that in anti-terror actions this year, 137 security personnel had died and 117 had been hurt.