The Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Friday killed two terrorists during an operation carried out in Dera Ghazi Khan, a statement issued in this regard said. According to a CTD spokesman, the law enforcement agency carried out an operation on the district’s Quetta Road on Thursday night upon receiving information related to the presence of terrorists. During an exchange of gunfire with the CTD, “two terrorists were killed by the firing of their own accomplices, while the other two terrorists managed to escape from the scene taking advantage of the darkness,” the statement said. The CTD also recovered explosives, two rifles, bullets, and a hand grenade from the hideouts of the militants, the statement said, adding that they had devised a plan to target important installations and conduct terrorist activities on a large scale in the province. It further said that the process of identifying the terrorists was under way, while further investigation continued and a search operation was launched for the arrest of the fleeing terrorists. The spokesperson also said that CTD Punjab was “diligently pursuing its goal of a safe Punjab” and was “determined to root out the scourge of terrorism.” Earlier, CTD Punjab arrested 33 suspected terrorists in 475 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) conducted across the province in the past month. Pakistan had experienced an increase in terrorist attacks as a total of 59 terrorist attacks occurred countrywide in August compared to 38 attacks in the previous month, according to a digital database maintained by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based think-tank. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi appreciated CTD Punjab for thwarting the terrorists’ plan in Dera Ghazi Khan, a statement from his office said. He congratulated the department for carrying out the operation successfully against the terrorists saying, “I congratulate the entire team of CTD Punjab for destroying the evil ambitions of the terrorists of Fitna al Khawarij”. In July, the government, through an official notification, designated the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as Fitna al Khawarij as reported by The Express Tribune. The government also mandated all institutions to use the term Khariji (outcast) when referring to the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Pakistan. CTD Punjab carried out a timely, successful operation and neutralised two terrorists of Fitna al Khawarij, said Naqvi, adding that they stopped the terrorist activities in DG Khan in a very professional manner. “CTD Punjab has always thwarted the nefarious ambitions of the terrorists”, he said, adding that the department was the “vanguard and our capital force” in dealing with terrorism.