Overview
- Security forces carried out an intelligence-based operation in Muzak village on the southern outskirts of Mir Ali on Sunday and sanitised two suspected militant hideouts that had been established inside local mosques, the military’s media wing (ISPR) said.
- Troops recovered a large quantity of prepared improvised explosive devices, explosive-making materials, weapons and ammunition from the sites, and security teams are conducting follow-up sanitisation sweeps to find any remaining caches.
- The ISPR identified the sites as belonging to 'Fitna Al-Khawarij,' the state label for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and accused the Afghan Taliban of abetting the militants in storing explosives and operating torture cells in places of worship.
- Senior leaders including the prime minister and president praised the operation and condemned the use of mosques for militant activity, while authorities said the raid will continue under the national Azm-e-Istehkam campaign and that security posture across North Waziristan has been tightened.
- Independent and international reporting give this raid fresh context: monitoring groups and a UN Security Council report have documented a sharp rise in attacks, growing use of IEDs and drone systems since 2022, which officials say the campaign aims to counter.