8 TTP terrorists killed, 5 injured in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Peshawar: Eight TTP terrorists were killed and five others injured on Friday during an intelligence-based operation in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

The operation was carried out in the Wanda Sheikh Allah area of Lakki Marwat district.

Eight terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan were killed and five others were injured in the operation, police said.

In a separate incident, unknown assailants blew up a newly constructed government girls’ primary school in Tank district, bordering South Waziristan, on Friday.

The incident took place at Gara Budha village in Sial Gul Korona, police said.

No casualties were reported as the building was unoccupied at the time of the blast.

Security officials suspect the involvement of militants aiming to disrupt the rise of education and literacy, particularly girls’ education, in the region.

No group has claimed responsibility for the school bombing as yet. However, splinter groups of TTP active in the Tank district are against girls' education and usually target their schools.

Over 450 schools in the province have been destroyed in such attacks over the last decade, forcing students to either quit education or attend classes next to ruined buildings or the rubble, as per data collected by local NGOs.

Pakistan witnessed multiple attacks on girls’ schools until 2019, especially in the Swat Valley and former tribal areas under the control of TTP.

In 2012, the insurgents attacked Nobel prize winner Malala Yousafzai, a teenage student and advocate for the education of girls.

Pakistan has lately been witnessing a rise in terrorist activities, mainly in provinces bordering Afghanistan.

As many as 298 people died due to terrorism so far this year in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to a Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) report published on Thursday.

The report said that till October 22, 117 police personnel and 181 civilians were killed in various terrorist incidents across the province, bringing the total number of lives lost to 298, while 486 others sustained injuries.

As per the data, across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2,366 intelligence-based operations were conducted in which 1,124 militants were arrested and 368 terrorists were gunned down.

The report stated that 6,181 suspects were charged in different terrorism-related cases during the year.

Action against extortion rackets also intensified, with 1,287 cases being registered till now this year, and 209 suspects were charged, while 52 others were apprehended during operations.