Pakistan army claims it has killed key terrorist in Waziristan

Pakistan’s military on Sunday claimed it killed an insurgent commander near the Afghanistan border in an intelligence-based operation in Waziristan. 

Army spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar said in a series of tweets that “in a major breakthrough, terrorist commander Ihsan Ullah alias Ihsan Sanray along with 3 other terrorists killed during an Intelligence Based Operation (IBO) today in Ghariom, Shaktu near the inter-district boundary of North and South Waziristan.”

Iftikhar said: “Ihsan Sanray masterminded numerous terrorist activities. More recently he was involved in planning and execution of terrorist attacks in Shaktu area which led to martyrdom of several soldiers & officers including Lt Nasir (Shaheed) and Capt Sabih (Shaheed).”

North Waziristan was once considered the heartland of insurgents. But six years ago the Pakistani military launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb to eliminate the insurgent group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Many say the operations pushed the TTP towards neighboring Afghanistan, and Islamabad claims the terrorist network has now set up bases across the border to attack Pakistani security forces.

The military operations also displaced over a million people, but the government claims most of them have returned to their homes.