Security forces kill 74 militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan
Operations in Mir Ali, Orakzai and Quetta's Karam area left 74 militants dead, while clearance operations continue in the northwest.
Security forces killed 74 militants in intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan on Friday, the military's media wing ISPR said.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, forces killed 35 militants in Mir Ali and eight in Orakzai over the previous 48 hours, the statement said.
The military said the operations involved heavy exchanges of fire with militants it described as the Fitna al Khawarij, operating under Indian patronage.
Forces recovered weapons, ammunition, homemade explosive material and improvised explosive devices during the operations, the statement added.
In Balochistan, an intelligence-based operation is continuing in the Karam area of Quetta district, where 31 militants were killed in several clashes, the military said.
Security forces also struck several militant hideouts in operations against the Fitna al Khawarij and the Fitna al Hindustan, the statement said, and recovered large quantities of arms, ammunition and explosives.
Clearance and sanitisation operations are underway in the affected areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the ISPR said.
The military said Operation Azm-e-Istehkam will continue at full pace until terrorism is eliminated from the country.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the professional skill and courage of the security forces for destroying the militant hideouts and seizing large quantities of weapons, the statement said.
Shehbaz said security personnel were working day and night to defeat the designs of enemies of the country, and that the fight would continue with full force until terrorism backed from abroad is ended under the National Action Plan.
The National Action Plan is the country's counterterrorism framework, adopted in 2014 after the Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar.
