Top TTP terrorist killed in operation

islamabad — Five suspected militants, including a ‘high-value’ target of the outlawed Tehreek-iTaleban Pakistan (TTP) identified as ‘Duran’, were killed in an intelligence-based operation carried out by security forces in the Kalaya area of Orakzai Agency early on Wednesday, Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement.

Two FC personnel also laid down their lives in the exchange of fire that ensued during the operation. The deceased were identified as Major Mudassar and Sepoy Mateeullah, reports Dawn online.

The security operation was conducted by Frontier Constabulary personnel as part of ongoing operation Raddul Fasaad in Mirak village in Kalaya.

Orakzai is one of Pakistan’s seven tribal regions, where Taleban and Al Qaeda-linked terrorists are said to have carved out strongholds.

It was a key abode of former TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud before he was killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan in 2013.

Operation Raddul Fasaad, in which the military aims to indiscriminately eliminate the “residual/latent threat of terrorism”, was launched exactly a month ago in the aftermath of terror attacks in Pakistan. One security official died and three others sustained injuries in an improvised explosive device blast near the Pak-Afghan border in South Waziristan on Wednesday, sources told DawnNews. —