Pakistan reports seven militants killed in two operations

Pakistani security sources said security forces killed seven militants in separate operations in Bara, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Chagai, Balochistan, on September 29. The accounts said five were killed in Bara and two in Chagai. The reported deaths and the militants’ identities have not been independently verified in the supplied reporting. In Bara, security sources described the action as an intelligence-based operation and said weapons and ammunition were recovered. They also said militant hideouts were destroyed. The sources identified the dead as members of Fitna al-Khawarij, a term Pakistan uses for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Accounts differed over the group affiliation: another report used the term Fitna al-Hindustan. The available information does not independently establish the identities or affiliations of those killed. Security sources also reported two deaths in an operation in Chagai. One account placed the operation in the Naukcha area and said it was conducted under Operation Raddul-Fitna 3. That report alleged the two men had set fire to an empty water bowser and were linked to arson along the N40 highway.