The Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department personnel came under attack by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani (TTP) militants in Mianwali Punjab province of Pakistan on Thursday night, according to official sources.
According to a statement issued by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Friday, the clash continued for twenty minutes between the militants and security officials during which a key terrorist was killed.
The statement said the killed militant was an important TTP commander identified as Habibur Rehman. A Kalashnikov, suicide jacket, and TTP stickers were recovered from the militant fighter.
The statement also added that two terrorists managed to escape during the clash, and a major search operation has been launched to arrest them. There has been no report on the casualties of the CTD personnel.
The banned TTP militants have intensified their attacks on different cities in Pakistan since the group called off their unilateral ceasefire with the Pakistani government in November. The militants have targeted police stations and check posts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and areas bordering Afghanistan — and now they have set their sights in Punjab.
In the past week, the CDT claimed to have killed a suspected terrorist allegedly belonging to TTP and has arrested 11 members of the outlawed group fro from different cities during intelligence-based operations across Punjab.
According to official reports, January has been the deadliest month since 2018, in which the militant groups carried out 44 attacks across the country, killing at least 134 people and injuring another 254.
This comes as crisis-hit Pakistan is struggling to fight terrorism and militancy. Since the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in Afghanistan, TTP has accelerated their attacks across Pakistan calling on the current regime to adhere to the militant group’s demands. Meanwhile, the Pakistani government accuses the Afghan Taliban of giving sanctuaries to their ideological twin, the TTP on Afghan soil.
