In a remote border area adjacent to Afghanistan, the Pakistani Taliban killed two border soldiers, an official reported on Thursday, after militants left graffiti throughout the villages.
Militancy has surged in the border regions with Afghanistan since the Afghan Taliban regained power in Kabul in 2021.
The Pakistani Taliban (TTP), a distinct yet closely related group, dominated parts of northwestern Pakistan until a military operation in 2014 pushed them back, remain the most active.
A senior local government official in Swat, speaking to AFP under anonymity, stated that security forces initiated an operation on Wednesday night.
“After receiving reports of TTP wall graffiti and their patrolling activities, security forces launched an operation,” he told AFP.
“An overnight shootout ensued between militants and security forces,” he added, noting that two border troops were killed and five others injured.
Exact numbers are unclear, but he estimated the TTP’s presence has increased over the past two months, with about 400 militants across several border districts in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
TTP graffiti appeared on buildings this week “to assert their presence, intimidate locals, and uplift the morale of militants already in the area”.
“In just the past 10 days, nine security personnel have been martyred,” he noted.
Last year was Pakistan’s deadliest in nearly a decade, with over 1,600 deaths, nearly half of them soldiers and police officers, according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.
Islamabad accuses its neighbor of failing to remove militants using Afghan soil for attacks on Pakistan, an accusation Afghanistan denies.
Since January 1, nearly 450 people, mostly security personnel, have been killed in attacks by armed groups fighting the state, both in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southern province of Balochistan, according to an AFP tally.
