A Pakistan Army major was martyred during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber tribal district’s Shakhas area, the military’s media affairs wing said on Thursday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that security forces had conducted an IBO last night after receiving reports about the presence of terrorists.

The ISPR said that while security forces were trying to establish “blocking positions to cut [off] the escape routes of [the] terrorists”, a party of terrorists was spotted by Major Mian Abdullah Shah — who was “leading the operation from the front”.

It said that the 33-year-old major, a resident of Kohat, embraced martyrdom as a result of a heavy exchange of fire.

“Three terrorists and their facilitators were apprehended. Sanitisation of the area is being carried out to eliminate the terrorists present in the area,” the ISPR said.

“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our soldiers further strengthen our resolve,” it added.

The incident comes three days after an army major and a soldier were martyred in an exchange of fire with terrorists in Kech district of Balochistan, hours after the martyrdom of four security personnel in simultaneous attacks on three checkpoints in Sherani district.

A day earlier, three soldiers were martyred and as many civilians were critically injured in a suicide attack in the general area of Miran Shah in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district.