What happened
Security forces killed 32 militants in two separate intelligence-based operations, including 24 in Khyber district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and eight in Balochistan’s Nushki district, the military’s media wing said on Wednesday, ABC News Pakistan reported.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operations were carried out on the night of 28–29 July in continuation of the security forces’ campaign against what it described as the “terrorist nexus of Indian sponsored Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna al-Hindustan”.
The operations
The ISPR said multiple intelligence-based area sanitisation and targeted operations were conducted in Khyber district, where security forces “effectively engaged different terrorist locations” and killed 24 militants it identified as belonging to Fitna al-Khawarij.
In a separate operation in Nushki district, security forces conducted multiple intelligence-based operations in which, after “an intense engagement”, eight militants belonging to Fitna al-Hindustan were killed, according to the military. It said weapons, ammunition and improvised explosive devices used by the militants were recovered and destroyed, and that sanitisation operations were continuing.
The ISPR said the counter-terrorism campaign under the vision “Azm-e-Istehkam”, approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, would continue at full pace.
Background
The military said the intelligence-based operations had been launched in the aftermath of recent attacks in the area. Security forces had earlier launched Operation Shaban after militants attacked the Mangi Dam Police Station. A district and sessions judge and his security guard were also killed when unidentified armed men opened fire on their vehicle on the national highway in Mastung, while an additional sessions judge and another person were seriously injured.
Reaction
President Asif Ali Zardari paid tribute to the security forces and law enforcement agencies for the operations, praising their professional capabilities. He said Pakistan would “foil the nefarious designs of India-backed terrorist elements at all costs”.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also commended the security forces, saying the fight against terrorism would continue until the threat was eliminated and that the nation stood with the armed forces.
What is still uncertain
The ISPR’s casualty figures could not be independently verified from the battlefield. The operations were announced amid a wider increase in militant activity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in the preceding weeks.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details are as carried by the cited source, which was reviewed on 30 July 2026.
- ABC News Pakistan — "Security forces kill 32 terrorists in K-P, Balochistan operations: ISPR"29 July 2026 · The ISPR's casualty figures, the locations of the operations, the weapons recovered and the reactions of the president and prime minister.
