The Kabul Tribune (KT) Pakistani security forces have killed seven militants in separate operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, according to security sources cited by Geo News on Tuesday.
Two militants were killed in an operation in the Nokcha area
of Balochistan’s Chagai district after they allegedly set an empty water tanker
on fire, the sources said. The militants were also accused of involvement in
arson attacks along the N-40 highway.
The sources said the militants belonged to Fitna
al-Hindustan, a term used by Pakistani authorities for an armed group they
accuse of being backed by India. They also said 11 militants involved in
similar attacks were killed on Aug. 31.
Separately, security forces conducted an intelligence-based
operation in Bara town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and killed five militants,
according to the sources. The militants were identified by Pakistani
authorities as members of Fitna al-Khawarij.
The sources said weapons and ammunition were recovered from
the site and that militant hideouts were destroyed during the operation.
Pakistan has increasingly linked militant attacks in its
western provinces to groups it says operate with support from abroad. India has
rejected Pakistani accusations of sponsoring militant activity in Pakistan,
while Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have also rejected allegations that
Afghan territory is being used to support attacks inside Pakistan.
Pakistan has also repeatedly accused the Taliban authorities
in Kabul of failing to prevent militant groups, including the Tehrik-e-Taliban
Pakistan, from operating from Afghan territory. Taliban authorities have denied
the allegations.
The latest operations come amid heightened tensions between
Pakistan and Afghanistan and a recent increase in militant violence in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The Associated Press could not independently
verify the security sources’ account of Tuesday’s operations or the identities
and affiliations of those killed.
