Pakistan security forces kill 19 militants in Northwestern raids following Taliban attack

Pakistani security forces kill 19 militants in raids near Afghan border

Pakistani security forces raided three militant hideouts in northwestern Pakistan, killing 19 fighters, the military said Thursday.

The statement described the militants as “Khwarij,” a term the government uses for the Pakistani Taliban. The group is allied with, but separate from, the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Kabul in 2021.

The military said fourteen militants were killed in an operation Wednesday in Mohmand district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan border, and five others were killed in raids Thursday in the districts of North Waziristan and Bannu.

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, attacked a security camp in Bannu last week, killing six soldiers.

The raids came two days after Maj. Adnan Aslam died at a military hospital from wounds sustained in the Sept. 2 attack on a security camp in Bannu. A video circulating online showed Aslam shielding a wounded soldier during the assault before returning fire and killing an attacker, despite being critically wounded.

Aslam has been hailed as a hero, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir attended his funeral this week.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks, most claimed by the Pakistani Taliban and Baloch separatists in the southwest.