Pakistani security forces kill 3 militants, arrest 7 in NW

Peshawar (AP) — Pakistani security forces acting on intelligence raided two hideouts of militants along the border with Afghanistan, triggering intense shootouts that left three insurgents dead, the country’s military said late Sunday.

Two militants were also wounded in the near-simultaneous raids launched in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, the military said in a statement.

It said the security forces in a separate raid in the North Waziristan district on Sunday also arrested seven militants, who were from a faction of Pakistani Taliban known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

TTP is a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in the neighboring country in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout. The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up attacks on police and troops in recent months.