News / Pakistan

Pakistan army says killed 3,400 militants since June 2014

Saturday, 12 December 2015 5:18 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 12 December 2015 5:29 PM ]

The file photo shows Pakistani security forces patrolling in the town of Miranshah in North Waziristan.

The Pakistani military says its forces have managed to kill 3,400 “terrorists” since Islamabad launched an offensive against Taliban-led violence last year.

On Saturday, Pakistani army spokesperson Asim Saleem Bajwa said in a statement that the country’s military had achieved “phenomenal successes” in its fight against militants since June 2014.

According to Bajwa, security forces are currently clearing out “last pockets” of militants in the restive North Waziristan tribal region, near the country's border with Afghanistan.

He added that some 488 security forces had also lost their lives during the time period.

Pakistani armed forces have been targeting militants since Islamabad launched the massive Zarb-e-Azb operation last June.

Pakistani military operations further intensified after pro-Taliban militants stormed a school in Peshawar last December, killing more than 150 people, mostly children.

Earlier this month, Peshawar security officials announced that four militants linked to the massacre at the school had been executed. The executions were the first to be carried out over the attack in Peshawar.

According to the Pakistani Interior Ministry, more than 60,000 people have also lost their lives by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country in the past years.

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan have been trading blame over the militancy threat in the region. Islamabad blames the Afghan government for giving shelter to the militants on its side of the border, while senior Afghan officials say elements inside the Pakistani spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), are supporting the Taliban militants.

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