By The South Asia Times

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s military said Sunday that security forces killed 21 militants in multiple operations in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province between Sept. 3 and 5, including terrorists allegedly attempting to cross into Pakistan from Afghanistan.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said 10 militants were killed after security forces engaged terrorists who had taken shelter in the area following an earlier attempted infiltration along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in North Waziristan.

According to the military, 15 militants from the group had already been killed during an engagement on the night of Aug. 31-Sept. 1, bringing the total number of militants from that attempted infiltration group killed by Pakistani forces to 25.

In a separate encounter in North Waziristan, security forces detected the movement of another group of militants along the border and engaged them. The military said seven militants were killed in what it described as a precise operation.

Four additional militants were killed in two separate encounters in Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan districts, according to ISPR.

Pakistan's military referred to the militants as members of Fitna-al-Khwarij, the term Pakistani authorities use for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and associated militant groups, and alleged that the fighters were sponsored by India. 

The latest operations come amid continued tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and Islamabad's repeated demands that Afghanistan prevent militant groups from using its territory to launch attacks against Pakistan.

ISPR said the latest incidents had reinforced Pakistan's position that the Afghan Taliban government had failed to prevent Afghan territory from being used for cross-border terrorism. It also accused Kabul of failing to establish effective border controls and meet its international counterterrorism obligations.

Afghanistan's Taliban authorities have repeatedly rejected Pakistan's accusations that they allow militants to operate from Afghan soil.

Pakistan has intensified counterterrorism operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, particularly in districts bordering Afghanistan, where militant attacks and attempted cross-border infiltrations have remained a major security concern.

The military said security forces were conducting sanitization operations in the affected areas to search for and eliminate any remaining militants.

It added that counterterrorism operations would continue under Azm-e-Istehkam, a national security initiative approved by Pakistan's Federal Apex Committee under the National Action Plan, with the stated objective of eliminating foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism.

Pakistan's security forces, ISPR said, remain committed to securing the country's borders and preventing militant groups from carrying out attacks inside the country.