What happened
Pakistan’s military said security forces killed five militants in two separate intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with four killed in Tank district and one in Dera Ismail Khan district, according to an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement reported by The Nation on 9 May 2026.
The statement said the four men killed in Tank belonged to what it described as “Indian-sponsored Fitna-al-Khwarij”. It said the operation was launched on a reported presence of the group and that troops engaged its location, killing the four after an intense exchange of fire.
In a separate intelligence-based operation in Dera Ismail Khan district, one more member of the group was killed, the statement said, adding that weapons and ammunition were recovered. It said a sanitisation operation was under way to clear the area of other members of the group.
The campaign
The statement tied the operations to a continuing counter-terrorism campaign under the vision “Azm-e-Istehkam”, which it said had been approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan. It said the campaign by security forces and law-enforcement agencies would continue at full pace to wipe out what it called foreign-sponsored terrorism.
Reaction
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif commended the security forces over the operations, according to separate statements cited in the report.
The president paid tribute to the professionalism of the security forces and reaffirmed that operations against militant elements would continue until militancy was completely eradicated, describing the actions as a manifestation of national determination. The prime minister said the forces were achieving significant successes under Azm-e-Istehkam and that the entire nation stood with the armed forces in the campaign. Both stressed national unity, the report said.
What remains uncertain
The identities of those killed, the specific evidence behind the “Indian-sponsored” description and any independent confirmation of the casualty figures were not provided in the material cited here. The account rests on the military’s statement and the official reactions it reported.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published material, not independent reporting. Source reviewed on 2026-05-09.
- The Nation — "Security forces kill five Indian-sponsored terrorists in KP"9 May 2026 · Reports the ISPR statement on the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan operations, the recovered weapons and the president's and prime minister's remarks.
