Five suspected terrorists, including two Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commanders, were killed in two intelligence-based operations carried out by security forces in the North Waziristan tribal district, the military's media wing said on Sunday.
The two terrorist commanders slain during the raids in North Waziristan's Mir Ali and Khaisur areas were identified as Syed Raheem alias Abid of TTP (AKK group) and Saifullah Noor of TTP (Gohar group).
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), militant Raheem alias Abid remained involved in 17 terrorism acts against security forces from the year 2007.
He was the in-charge of "two suicide bombing centres in Wana and Mir Ali areas" and was "tasked by hostile agencies for target killing, recruiting new terrorists and organising them", the ISPR statement said.
It added that Raheem was also involved in terrorist activities between November 2020 and January 2021 and was involved in the killing of four Maliks in the Mir Ali area and three engineers working in a company in North Waziristan, and many improvised explosive device (IED) attacks.
TTP commander Saifullah Noor, meanwhile, was "directly involved in different IED attacks on security forces in Khaisur", according to the ISPR.
The development comes a week after security forces killed two terrorists in the South Waziristan tribal district.
An ISPR statement at the time had said Usman Ali and Waheed alias Lashtai of the banned TTP’s Sajna Group were killed in Nargosa area during an IBO, which was carried out after an intense exchange of fire. It added that another terrorist was held injured.
Following a lull due to the success of army operations, violence has recently seen an uptick in the merged tribal districts, particularly in North and South Waziristan, resulting in the martyrdom of several officers, soldiers and civilians. Security forces have eliminated several suspected terrorists in operations in the area.
On Jan 14, three Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred in an exchange of fire with militants in North Waziristan after security forces carried out two separate IBOs on terrorist hideouts.
Two suspected terrorists "including an IED expert" were killed in those operations, the ISPR had said in a statement.
Earlier this month, two soldiers were martyred and three others wounded in a terrorist attack on a security check-post in the Speenwam area of North Waziristan.
