Islamabad, September 09: Pakistani security forces have reportedly killed at least 24 pro-Taliban guerillas in the Khyber district in the country’s insurgency-plagued northwest.
“Security forces killed at least 24 militants and destroyed two militant headquarters and two hideouts in Bara town of Khyber,” a statement from the paramilitary Frontier Corps said on September 8.
The offensive is said to have been against Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam) fighters who hold sway in Khyber as well as in the neighboring area, and have some affiliation with the proscribed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of pro-Taliban insurgents in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s northwest and tribal areas have been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters sought refuge there after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Militant violence in Pakistan has surged over the past two years, raising fears for its stability and alarming the United States.
The Pakistani military has been engaged in an all-out fight against militants since April and has, on occasion, struck suspected insurgent hideouts and bombarded guerilla training centers in the northwest tribal belt.
—–Agencies