PESHAWAR: Pakistani security forces killed six militants and injured eight other people in a shooting overnight RAID in the northwest of the country, the military said Sunday. Security forces carried out an intelligence-based operation in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan district when they exchanged fire with militants, the army said. One soldier was also killed and troops recovered weapons and ammunition from the militants’ hideout.
North Waziristan had for decades served as a safe haven for militants until the military carried out a major operation after an attack on an army-run school in Peshawar in 2014 killed more than 150 people, mostly schoolchildren.
After a years-long operation, the army announced that it had cleared the region of local and foreign militants. However, occasional attacks have continued, raising concerns that local Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have found safe havens in Afghanistan and are regrouping in the area.
The Pakistani Taliban is a separate group but allied to the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 when US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal after 20 years of war.