Overview
- Security forces in Bannu killed two militants in an intelligence-based raid that took place Sunday, including ringleader Waheedullah alias Muktiar and a would-be suicide bomber, according to the army.
- Troops recovered a suicide jacket, weapons, and ammunition from the site, and the military said the swift action also prevented a larger attack.
- In a separate Counter-Terrorism Department sweep near the Bannu border in the Akhundan forest, officers killed two militants including commander Amir Sohail alias Aqabi, while police constable Atiqur Rehman was killed in the firefight.
- Officials linked Waheedullah to the February 21 bombing that killed Lt Col Shahzada Gul Faraz and said sanitisation and wide-area searches now continue under Azm-e-Istehkam, a nationwide counter-terror push.
- The military described the network as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and used the label Fitna al-Khawarij, as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa logged 3,811 of Pakistan’s 5,397 terror incidents last year.