Pakistani forces kill 38 militants in raids on their hideouts in northwestern province

ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistani security forces, acting on intelligence, raided multiple militant hideouts in the country’s northwest near the Afghan border and killed 38 militants, the military said Tuesday.

Troops first carried out an operation on Sunday in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing 10 Pakistani Taliban, according to a military statement. A second raid in the region’s North Waziristan district killed five more militants, including a militant commander, it said.

In twin raids across the northwestern Bajaur and Bannu districts, security forces killed 23 Pakistani Taliban on Monday, the military said in a statement on Tuesday.

The military identified the killed militants as “Khawarij,” a term authorities use for militants they allege are backed by Afghanistan and India, including those linked to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a charge Kabul and New Delhi deny.

The Pakistani Taliban are a separate but allied group to Afghanistan’s Taliban, who have been emboldened since taking power in Kabul in 2021.

Many TTP leaders and fighters are believed to operate from sanctuaries across the Afghan border, straining relations between Islamabad and Kabul.