Overview
- The military’s media wing said security forces conducted a November 24 intelligence-based operation in Bannu that killed 22 militants it described as India-backed.
- ISPR said the raid targeted Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants, referred to as Fitna al-Khawarij, and involved an intense exchange of fire.
- A follow-on sanitisation sweep is under way, with the army vowing to press the Azm-e-Istehkam campaign against what it calls foreign-sponsored terrorism.
- President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the forces for the operation and voiced support for continued counterterrorism efforts.
- The action came a day after a suicide attack on the Federal Constabulary headquarters in Peshawar killed three personnel, as police report hundreds of terror incidents in KP this year.