Security forces killed 21 terrorists, including members of the Pakistani Taliban, in a series of intelligence-based operations in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan over the past three days, according to the military’s media wing on Saturday.
Four ring leaders from the group Fitna-al-Khwarij, who are wanted for their involvement in multiple terrorist activities, were among those killed in the North Wazirstan district, according to the media wing.
Fitna-al-Khwarij is the official government-approved name for the infamous Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). While the banned organisation is separate from the Afghan Taliban, it remains aligned to it. Since the Afghan Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, militant attacks in Pakistan involving the Fitna-al-Khwarij and other groups have increased significantly.
The media wing released a statement, outlining the results of the operations.
“A total of 48 khwarij have been killed since last week in the highly skilful and precise operations,” it said.
According to the statement, security forces also recovered weapons and ammunition from those who were killed.
The media wing declared that sanitisation operations would continue to eliminate the remaining terrorists, who are in hiding in the area, under the current Counter Terrorism campaign by security forces and law enforcement agencies.
Pakistan security forces had killed 11 terrorists in the Datta Khel area of North Wazirstan in late May. After foiling a suicide attack in Miranshah, authorities had imposed Section 144 in the area in the first week of June, prohibiting public gatherings of four or more people, rallies, and protests. Security forces had also killed at least 17 suspected terrorists after a bomb attack on a shuttle train in Quetta city of Balochistan in late May.
Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) found that after two consecutive months of improvement, the security situation in Pakistan worsened sharply in May 2026, which was mainly attributed to escalating violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
