Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-security-raid-militants-killed-northwest-9c73a1b91b3697b4928870c7e4645671
On monday, Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in the restive northwest region near the Afghan border and killed nine militants. The Pakistan military stated that a high-value militant Shireen was among those insurgents killed. Shireen was responsible for the killing of Army Captain, Hasnain Akhtar, a month prior who died in a shootout in the region. The Pakistani Taliban are known as the TTP and is an ally of the Taliban in Afghanistan. They have been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power there in 2021 and since then, Pakistan has seen a large surge in militant attacks.
Pakistan often blames Kabul, the nation’s capital, of not doing enough to combat militant activity across the border. The Afghan Taliban-led government denies these accusations and continues to states that it does not allow anyone to carry out attacks against any country. Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, urged Kabul to stop the TTP from carrying out any more attacks inside of Pakistan. Sadiq said monday that Afghanistan should work with Pakistan on the issue of combating terrorism. Sadiq specifically said that “Afghanistan has to work with us on this. If they are not working on this, then all deals are off.” Although Pakistan does often conduct operations against these growing militants, the latest raid in Dera Ismail Khan came a day after troops killed eight militants in the northwestern North Waziristan district as they attempted to cross the border and into Pakistan. This growing issue of terrorism in the region has shown that it will require a unified and collaborative effort to cease it.