One soldier, two civilians martyred in DI Khan terrorist attack on private company vehicles: ISPR

• Terrorists fire upon vehicles of private company.
• Soldier was employed on the security of project. 
• Terrorist killed during IBO in Bara, Khyber district. 

RAWALPINDI: One soldier and two civilians were martyred after terrorists opened fire in the general area of Darazinda, Dera Ismail Khan, a statement by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Tuesday. 

According to the military’s media wing, the militants fired upon vehicles of a private company working on a development project in the area.

“Resultantly, two innocent civilian employees of the company,  Muhammad Faisal, 35 and Asif Kamran, 29 who were residents of district Karak embraced shahadat,” said the statement. 

ISPR also said that Sepoy Syed Muhammad Shaheen Shah, who was 33 and a resident of district Hangu, was employed on the security of the project. He also embraced martyrdom while fighting gallantly with the terrorists. 

“Sanitisation operation is being carried out to eliminate the terrorists present in the area,” said the statement. 

It added that the security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and would continue to support the economic progress of the area.

Meanwhile, a terrorist was killed during an intelligence-based operation in the general area of Bara, Khyber district. 

Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the slain militant, identified as Qudrat Shah alias Abubakar, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities.

A day earlier, two soldiers were martyred in a gun battle with terrorists in North Waziristan district’s Mir Ali area, said the ISPR. 

During the intense fire exchange, Sepoy Abdullah, 25, a resident of Mardan, and Sepoy Muhammad Sohail, 19, a resident of Tharparkar embraced martyrdom after fighting bravely.

The forces carried out a sanitisation operation of the area to neutralise any other terrorists, the military’s media wing said.

The nation of 240 million has faced a surge in terrorism in recent months, with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant outfits intensifying their actions against security forces.

In response, the state has also launched operations to curb terrorism.

Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), in a report released in October, noted that the security forces lost at least 386 personnel in the first nine months of 2023, marking an eight-year high.

In the third quarter of 2023, some 445 people lost their lives and 440 suffered injuries from as many as 190 terror attacks and counter-terror operations.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan were the primary centres of violence, accounting for nearly 94% of all fatalities and 89% of attacks (including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations) recorded during this period.