Pakistan security forces have killed 54 terrorists during an infiltration attempt at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in North Waziristan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district, the military’s media wing reported late on Sunday.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the death toll marks the highest number of terrorists killed by security forces in a single encounter during the ongoing counter-terrorism operations.
The incident occurred between the night of April 25-26 and 26-27, when the movement of a large group of terrorists attempting to infiltrate the border was detected by the security forces in the Hassan Khel area of North Waziristan.
“Our own troops effectively engaged and thwarted their attempt to infiltrate. As a result of precise and skilful engagement, all fifty-four terrorists have been sent to hell,” read the ISPR statement.
In addition to the fatalities, the forces also recovered a significant cache of arms and ammunition. The statement claimed that intelligence reports suggested the terrorists were infiltrating on the orders of their “foreign masters” to execute high-profile terror activities inside Pakistan.
The ISPR statement also indirectly accused India of being involved in the funding of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group, also referred to as Fitna al Khawarij.
“Distracting Pakistan’s security forces from their focus on the war against terror seems to be the strategic intent of India to allow a breathing space to FAK, which is reeling from the onslaught of our Armed Forces’ resolute offensive against them,” the ISPR statement added.
On Saturday, the ISPR reported that two soldiers were killed and 15 terrorists were killed in separate encounters across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Additionally, intelligence-based operations (IBOs) carried out on Friday and Saturday resulted in the death of eight terrorists in Karak district.
The rise in fatalities comes amid an escalating terrorist threat. Pakistan ranked second on the Global Terrorism Index for 2025, with terrorist-related deaths rising by 45 percent in the past year, totalling 1,081.
