Nine Militants, Tribal Leader Killed in Surge of Violence in Northwest Pakistan

At least 10 people, including nine suspected militants and a tribal leader, have been killed in a wave of violence and security operations across Pakistan’s Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, officials confirmed on Saturday.

Police in Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan district said a pre-dawn gun battle broke out in Jaday Wala village during an operation targeting suspected Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters. Five militants were reported killed, while the operation remained ongoing.

Elsewhere in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, security forces killed four additional suspected militants during separate operations in Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan districts.

In another incident, gunmen believed to be militants shot and killed Malik Eid Nawaz, a prominent tribal leader, in the Bannu district.

The violence follows Friday’s military announcement that at least 30 suspected militants were killed while attempting to cross into Pakistan from Afghanistan.

The Pakistani military has recently stepped up its operations in response to a rise in militant activity. Just last week, 13 soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border. The army said it killed 14 militants in retaliatory operations.

Islamabad continues to accuse TTP elements operating from inside Afghanistan of carrying out cross-border attacks, a charge that Afghan authorities deny.