On Monday, at least 30, most of them civilians, were reported killed in the Tirah Valley, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after the Pakistan Army attacked a stronghold of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). According to the police authorities, a compound where the militants had been storing bomb-making materials exploded, killing both the insurgents and the local residents. Rescue teams are busy with the extensive damage, and more deaths are likely to increase as more houses are damaged in blasts.
The compound was a TTP haven, according to a local police officer, Zafar illustration khan. He mentioned that 14 militants were killed, including commanders Aman Gul and Masood Khan, who had transformed the location into an explosive-manufacturing factory. Khan also accused the rebels of using civilians to act as human shields and that the group had recently been hiding weapons in the mosques of other districts.
Social-media videos featured injured children on their improvised bed and other villagers examining the earthquake aftermath, highlighting the high number of casualties among civilians who comprised women and children. The army had previously claimed that seven TTP fighters had been killed in an act of intelligence-based operation in the Dera Ismail Khan district that borders South Waziristan, where TTP activity had been reported. On September 13-14, the military announced that 31 more militants had been killed in 2 other incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The TTP group, which is not the same but aligned with the Afghan Taliban, has been credited with the surge of attacks in the northwestern part of Pakistan. The TTP has also been emboldened by the Afghan Taliban returning to power in 2021, and it is estimated that most leaders and fighters are sheltered across the border in Afghanistan. With the army persistently launching attacks on these hideouts, civilians are still under threat, with most communities being caught in the middle fire between the security forces and the insurgents.
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