Heavily armed militants attacked a Pakistani security outpost near the border with Afghanistan early Monday, resulting in the deaths of five soldiers and seven militants in the ensuing firefight.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), in a statement, said seven soldiers were killed during the operations conducted on May 26 and 27. In all, 23 terrorists were killed in the operation.
Security officials confirmed the deaths to VOA, saying the attack occurred in the remote Tirah valley in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and resulted in injuries to six soldiers.
Hours later, the media wing of the Pakistani military also confirmed the casualties suffered by its forces in the clashes in the former militant stronghold, saying that seven militants were killed in retaliatory fire.
“A large quantity of weapons, ammunition, and explosives was also recovered from the killed terrorists who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as innocent civilians,” the statement added.
Militants allied with the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, TTP, released a statement claiming responsibility for staging the raid in Tirah.
The deadly attack came a day after the Pakistani military reported that a counterterrorism raid near the provincial capital of Peshawar killed two Pakistani soldiers and five alleged “terrorists” believed to be linked to TTP.
May 27,2024
Source: Voice of America.