13 terrorists killed in Pak’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along Afghanistan border

Pakistan’s military said security forces killed 13 militants from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan during border operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near Afghanistan, under the Azm-e-Istehkam, amid rising militant violence and infiltration attempts

Peshawar: At least 13 terrorists have been killed by Pakistani security forces along the Afghanistan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military’s media wing said on Friday.

The terrorists, belonging to Fitna-al-Khwarij, were killed in Mohmand and North Waziristan districts on April 28 and 29, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

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Fitna al-Khawarij is a term the state uses to refer to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In Mohmand district, movement of a group of khwarij trying to infiltrate through the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was picked up by the security forces.

The troops effectively engaged the group and eight khwarij were killed, the statement said.

In another engagement, the troops effectively foiled another infiltration attempt by a group of khwarij along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in North Waziristan district and after intense fire exchange, five terrorists were neutralised.

Sanitisation operations were being conducted to eliminate any other terrorist found in the area.

The statement highlighted that the counter-terrorism campaign under the vision “Azm-e-Istehkam,” approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, will continue at full pace.

“The Afghan Taliban regime must fulfil its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by khwarij and involvement of its citizens in terrorism inside Pakistan,” the statement added.

Despite record militant deaths, Pakistan saw a sharp escalation in militant violence in 2025, with terrorist attacks rising by 34 per cent and terrorism-related fatalities increasing by 21 per cent year on year, according to a report released by the Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular has seen a rise in terrorist attacks in the past year.

According to the Annual Security Report 2025 from the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), the province recorded a significant surge in violence last year as “fatalities rose from 1,620 in 2024 to 2,331 in 2025”.