3 Pakistani security personnel and 3 militants were killed in a gunfight in the restive North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, the Army said on Sunday. Four terrorists were also injured during the exchange of the firings.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military's media wing, said in a statement that the shootout took place in the Miranshah area of the district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province overnight early on Saturday,
The security forces seized arms and ammunition from the possession of the slain terrorists and launched a sanitisation operation to eliminate any other militant found in the area.
Although the Pakistani military claims it has cleared North Waziristan of militants, occasional attacks and shootouts continue, raising concerns that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which earlier had a stronghold in the district, are regrouping in the area.
The TTP is a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, as the US and NATO forces withdrew from the country after two decades of war.
The TTP unilaterally ended a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government last November and has since stepped up its attacks in the country.
(With PTI inputs)
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