Security forces have killed 11 terrorists in the Datta Khel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district during the last 48 hours, the military’s media affairs wing said on Sunday.

A statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said security forces had “engaged multiple” terrorist locations as part of a series of intelligence-based operations in the area.

“Following intense and fierce exchanges of fire, eleven khawarij belonging to India-sponsored Fitna-al-Khawarij were effectively neutralised,” the statement said.

Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term that the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

According to ISPR, weapons and ammunition were recovered from the slain terrorists, who “remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area”.

“Sanitisation operations continue to eliminate holed up khawarij from these areas, as a relentless counter-terrorism campaign under the 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,” the ISPR statement added.

A separate statement by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s ministry said he “praises security forces for the successful operation against India-sponsored terrorists in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan”.

“The interior minister commended the professional capabilities” of the security forces, it added.

Earlier this week, ISPR said security forces had killed another 22 India-sponsored terrorists in North Waziristan.

As KP and Balochistan continue to grapple with militancy, with attacks often targeting security personnel and law enforcers, the state has intensified counter-terrorism operations.

Last week, a major-ranked officer was among five soldiers martyred during an area sanitisation operation in Balochistan’s Barkhan district.

In a subsequent operation launched by security forces, at least three ‘commanders’ of Balochistan-based terrorist groups had been arrested, while 35 of their operatives have been killed, the Balochistan government said.

Earlier this month, security forces killed five terrorists in two separate engagements in KP’s Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts. In early April, eight terrorists were killed along the Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan.