Three terrorists eliminated in Peshawar

Law enforcement agencies killed three members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in a joint operation in Peshawar on Thursday, a day after coordinated militant assaults targeted police in multiple districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to a Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) spokesperson, the operation was conducted with police in the Regi area, where the militants — one of them an Afghan national — were hunted down.

The CTD said the slain men were wanted in at least 18 cases, including attacks on security forces and police. A cache of arms, ammunition and explosives was also seized.

The killings came a day after TTP fighters attacked police stations, checkpoints and patrols across seven KP districts bordering Afghanistan, using rocket-propelled grenades in some incidents. Five police personnel were killed and eight wounded, officials said.

“We repulsed them in most places, inflicting losses and forcing them to flee,” provincial police chief Zulfiqar Hameed told reporters after attending funerals of slain officers. “We suffered losses in two incidents.”

The TTP claimed responsibility for the assaults, which authorities said were timed to coincide with Independence Day.

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Security forces are currently engaged in operations in Bajaur to root out militants, officials added.

The violence came as Pakistan and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to eradicating terrorism in all forms at the Pakistan-US Counter-Terrorism Dialogue this week. The joint statement highlighted threats from the TTP, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and ISIS-Khorasan.

On Monday, Washington designated the BLA and its Majeed Brigade faction as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, adding the latter as an alias to the BLA’s existing global terrorist designation.