ISLAMABAD: A militant was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces during an intelligence-based operation in Pakistan’s troubled northwest, the Pakistani military said on Saturday.
The operation was being conducted in Mir Ali area of the North Waziristan district, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed terrorist,” the ISPR was quoted as saying by the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster.
“The killed terrorist remained actively involved in terrorist activities against security forces and the killing of innocent citizens.”
Earlier this week, three Pakistani soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with militants in the same district, while the gunbattle left two militants dead as well, according to the ISPR.
Militant violence has increased in Pakistan in recent months, particularly after the Pakistani Taliban, or the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), called off a fragile, months-long truce with the government in November last year.
The group has since mounted attacks against police and security forces in Pakistan’s northwestern and southwestern regions that border Afghanistan and Iran.