12 Taliban suspects killed in Pakistan military operation

Islamabad, Feb 8 (EFE).- Pakistani military Wednesday claimed that it killed 12 alleged Taliban militants in an overnight operation in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“A very successful intelligence based operation was conducted by security forces in Lakki Marwat area (of the province),” a military statement said.

“During the exchange of fire, 12 terrorists from the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) were killed,” the statement said.

The army said it had been watching the movement and activities of a group of militants for the last week.

It said the Taliban fighters were lured in by providing a vehicle to escape.

Weapons, ammunition, and Afghan currency were recovered from the slain militants.

The TTP did not issue any statement regarding the operation.

However, in a statement on Wednesday, the Islamist militant group said that it did not follow the policy to target politicians who were not part of its war with the security forces and law enforcement agencies.

It said the claim by ex-prime minister Imran Khan that people from South Waziristan were tasked to kill him was baseless.

“Our war is directly with the military and intelligence agencies,” the TTP said.

Khan told reporters on Tuesday that former president Asif Zardari had tasked some people in the South Waziristan tribal area to assassinate him, pointing towards the TTP.

The TTP is an umbrella group of several armed organizations established in 2007 to establish an Islamic state in Pakistan.

Since its inception, the group has carried out a brutal campaign of attacks across the country and killed thousands of people, including an assassination attempt in 2012 against Nobel peace-winning activist Malala Yousafzai.

The Pakistani Taliban intensified its activities in Pakistan after the Afghan Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021.

Talks between the Pakistani authorities and the TTP took place, with the Afghan Taliban playing mediator.

In November last year, the TTP ended a ceasefire with the Pakistani government after the talks between the two broke down.

According to Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, January remained one of the deadliest months since July 2018, in which 134 people lost their lives in at least 44 militant attacks across the country. EFE

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