Pakistan’s military said Friday that 33 members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed in an overnight operation near Zhob district in the southwestern province of Balochistan, after attempting to infiltrate from Afghanistan.
In a statement, the army said security forces launched the operation late Thursday after detecting the movement of a large group from “Fitna al-Khawarij,” a banned TTP faction. The militants were intercepted and “eliminated” as they tried to cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan border into Zhob, the military said.
A large cache of weapons and explosives was recovered from the insurgents, according to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The announcement comes amid heightened tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban government in Kabul. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of sheltering TTP fighters, allegations the Taliban deny but which are supported by international reports.
In a recent briefing to the UN Security Council, UN experts said the Taliban continues to provide safe haven to foreign terrorist groups, posing a serious threat to the security of Central Asia and beyond. The report also noted the presence of multiple al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, including three newly identified sites used to train both al-Qaeda and TTP fighters.
A spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry accused Baloch insurgents and TTP militants of receiving financial and logistical support from within Afghanistan, urging the Taliban to take decisive action against them.
