Pakistan security forces kill 6 militants in a raid in the northwest

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Security forces in Pakistan acting on intelligence raided a militant hideout in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s northwest on Friday, triggering an intense shootout in which six militants were killed, the military said.

The raid was carried out in Karak, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, the military said in a statement. An operation was underway to eliminate any other militants found there.

The military provided no further details about the killed militants, but such operations are often conducted against the Pakistani Taliban, which are also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.

The TTP is an ally of the Taliban in Afghanistan and has stepped up its assaults in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

A major operation is also ongoing in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where militants in recent months have frequently attacked Shiites and security forces escorting aid trucks for hundreds of thousands of besieged residents.

Authorities say that security forces this week arrested 48 suspects accused of recent attacks on the country’s troops escorting aid trucks. Some of the detainees were also involved in attacks on Shiites in the region, police said.

Kurram has been cut off from the rest of the country since November after the government blocked roads following clashes between heavily armed Shiite and Sunni tribes.

Authorities hope that they will soon restore order in the region, and reopen a key road leading to Kurram at the completion of the operation, which began this week, after insurgents killed five soldiers escorting aid trucks.