Daily Times

Islamabad: Four personnel of the Pakistan Army, including a major, lost their lives in an intelligence-based operation against a terrorist hideout in Sherotkai area of Timergara in Upper Dir on Wednesday.

A press statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) identified the deceased soldiers as Major Ali Salman, Havaldar Ghulam Nazir, Havaldar Akhtar and Sepoy Abdul Karim.

The statement said that when the security personnel raided the hideout, the suspected militants opened fire on them. One of the two suicide bombers present inside the hideout then blew himself up, it added. The other suicide bomber was killed in exchange of fire.

A suspected terrorist was apprehended during the operation, the ISPR statement said.

In his statement following the news of the incident, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi expressed his grief over the martyrdom of the Army personnel. “Each drop of blood of our heroes is a testament to the fact that we are united as a nation to cleanse our beloved motherland from terrorist elements,” Abbasi said. He vowed to continue efforts till all terrorist outfits were eliminated from the country.

Abbasi said that cowardly attacks on the country’s law enforcement agencies could not affect their resolve to proceed with operations against terrorist outfits. “The war against terrorism is a war for the survival of Pakistan as an independent country,” he said.

Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak and Governor Iqbal Zafer Jhagra also expressed condolences over the incident and prayed for the departed souls of the martyred soldiers.

Later in the day, funeral prayers for Major Ali Salman and Hawaldar Akhtar Ali were offered in Upper Dir. Corps Commander Lt General Nazir Ahmad Butt and Frontier Corps Inspector Shaheen Mazhar Mehmood attended the funeral.

Wednesday incident took place in the wake of Operation Khyber-4, launched in the Rajgal Valley area of Khyber Agency under Operation Raddul Fasaad (RuF).

The ISPR claims that since the launch of Operation RuF, the Army has launched 46 major operations and over 9,000 intelligence-based operations in the country.

About 1,760 joint checkposts have been established in coordination with the police and other law enforcement agencies.

Published in Daily Times, August 10^th 2017.