Three Federal Constabulary men were martyred in a terrorist attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district on Monday, according to officials.
In a statement, Karak police spokesperson Shaukat Khan said terrorists initially carried out a quadcopter attack on the Federal Constabulary fort in the Dargah Shaheedan area.
The spokesperson said that during the initial attack, the terrorists detonated four rounds of explosives, causing injuries to four Federal Constabulary personnel. However, the Federal Constabulary personnel retaliated.
The exchange of fire went on for a long time, he added. He said that Rescue 1122 teams arrived at the site of the incident to rush the injured to a nearby hospital; however, the ambulances were ambushed by the terrorists near Ghole Banda Dam, leading to the martyrdom of three Federal Constabulary personnel.
Three Rescue 1122 officials were left injured, he said. He added that following the attack, the ambulances caught fire and were destroyed.
Karak District Police Officer Saood Khan also confirmed that three Federal Constabulary men were martyred as the ambulance carrying the injured came under attack.
Separately, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Asif Khan, in a statement, said that two of the injured rescue personnel were in critical condition.
Separately, security forces killed nine terrorists, including a suicide bomber, during intelligence-based operations (IBO) in Balochistan and KP, according to statements issued by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Monday.
According to the military’s media affairs wing, an IBO in KP’s Dera Ismail Khan was conducted on Monday, on the “reported presence of khawarij belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna-al-Khawarij”.
Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term that the state has designated for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban.
The ISPR said that security personnel “effectively engaged the khawarij location” during the operation, and after an intense exchange of fire, four terrorists were killed. It added that weapons and ammunition were recovered from “Indian-sponsored killed khawarij, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area”.
Earlier in the day, ISPR shared the details of the IBO in Balochistan’s Pishin in a separate statement.
It said security forces had killed five terrorists, including a suicide bomber, during that IBO on Sunday.
The military’s media wing said the terrorist tashkeel (formation) was engaged with multiple weapons. “After an intense fire exchange, suicide bomber kharji cowardly blew himself up and four other Indian sponsored khawarij were hunted down and sent to hell.”
Weapons, ammunition, and explosives were recovered from the killed terrorists during the Pishin IBO as well, said the ISPR, and added that the militants were “actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area”.
Both statements by ISPR stated: “Sanitisation operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored terrorists found in the area. Relentless counter-terrorism campaign under vision ‘Azm-i -Istehkam’ (as approved by Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.”
Separately, the spokesperson for Balochistan’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) also confirmed the IBO in Pishin and the losses suffered by the terrorists in an earlier statement.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in their separate statements, commended the security forces for their successful operation against terrorists in Pishin, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
The president said the IBO “against the Indian-backed Fitna al Khawarij reflects the nation’s resolve in the fight against terrorism”. He said the war against terrorism will continue until the “complete eradication of this menace”.
In his statement, PM Shehbaz highlighted that the security forces were making great progress against terrorist groups “every single day with courage, determination and strength”, Radio Pakistan reported.
The premier reaffirmed that the entire nation stood with armed forces and law enforcement authorities in the war against terrorism.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the attack, terming it “cowardly and inhumane,” as per a statement issued by the PPP’s media cell.
“Those who opened fire on an ambulance have proven that they reject the teachings of Islam,” Bilawal was quoted as saying.
Bilawal, as per the statement, paid tribute to the martyred personnel and offered condolences to their families.
He stressed that “a Muslim cannot even think of harming an animal, let alone a human being, in the holy month of Ramazan”.
Separately, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry while vowing that there would be no compromise on national security, on Monday informed the Senate that no one would be allowed to weaken Pakistan’s defence.
Speaking in the Senate, he said that the government is not oblivious to the protection of its people and territory, adding that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on February 21 carried out intelligence-based airstrikes in three provinces of Afghanistan to target safe hideouts of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Fitna al Khwarij terrorists.
He said that over 100 terrorists have been killed in the airstrikes.
The minister said Pakistan had presented solid evidence of terrorism originating from Afghanistan to the Taliban government. Details of terrorist safe havens and training camps were also shared with Afghan authorities, he added.
However, he said that no serious effort was made by the Taliban government to dismantle these networks.
“In negotiations, Rs 10 billion was demanded from Pakistan to resettle terrorists on the other side,” he said, adding that Islamabad was not provided with any written guarantee ensuring that there would be no further infiltration into Pakistan.
He said that the airstrikes were carried out on the basis of intelligence, during which terrorist safe havens and training camps were successfully targeted. No action was taken against civilians during the strikes, he added.
He went on to say that the “fabric of all terrorist incidents” in Pakistan originates from Afghanistan. “Pakistan can no longer tolerate all this,” he said.