At least seven Frontier Corps personnel obtained martyrdom as a checkpost northeast of South Waziristan’s Angoor Adda came under fire earlier today, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said, in a press statement.
“The terrorists opened heavy fire from across the Pak-Afghan border early on Tuesday,” the ISPR said.
North and South Waziristan were among Pakistan’s seven tribal districts near the Afghan border which were rife with homegrown insurgents and were alleged to be strongholds of Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, among others.
According to the ISPR, troops have been deployed along the border with neighbouring agencies to block any movement of terrorists in and out of the region.
The Pakistan Army launched military operations Zarb-i-Azb and the National Action Plan targeting insurgents following attacks on Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport and Peshawar’s Army Public School in 2014.
Officials say nearly 3,000 militants have been killed since the launch of the latest offensive.
The number of attacks in Pakistan has fallen around 70 per cent this year, due to a combination of the military offensive against Taliban bases along the Afghan border and government initiatives to tackle militancy.
Many militants have fled to other parts of Pakistan, and some into Afghanistan, complicating the United States-backed Kabul government’s fight against its own Taliban insurgency.
