Security forces carried out a successful operation in Bara tehsil of Khyber district, adjacent to Peshawar, killing 11 members of the proscribed Daesh, or the ISKP, terrorist organization, security sources confirmed.
The operation was conducted late at night in the Qambar Khel area near Peshawar, where security forces targeted ISKP hideouts based on actionable intelligence. As a result of the raid, 11 terrorists were killed while three others were injured.
According to security sources, the bodies of the killed militants were taken into custody, while the injured terrorists were arrested and shifted to an undisclosed location for further interrogation.
Sources revealed that the majority of those killed were foreign nationals. These militants had relocated to the area after their previous hideouts came under attack in November last year, forcing them to flee and seek refuge in the rugged terrain of Khyber.
Security officials said the group had earlier escaped from Mastung and was attempting to regroup in the mountainous regions of the former Khyber Agency. Their objective was to reorganize operational structures and revive terrorist activities in and around Peshawar.
The operation underscores Pakistan’s zero tolerance policy against terrorism in all its forms and reflects sustained counterterrorism pressure on transnational militant networks operating along the western frontier. It also serves as a direct rebuttal to repeated claims by Afghan Taliban authorities denying the presence of Daesh elements in the region, despite mounting evidence of cross-border movement and foreign terrorist infiltration.
ISKP Degraded Inside Pakistan
The latest operation in Khyber comes as part of a broader, intelligence driven campaign that has significantly degraded Daesh’s operational and propaganda capabilities inside Pakistan. In recent months, security and intelligence agencies have not only disrupted militant cells attempting to reestablish themselves after setbacks in Balochistan and along the border regions but have also targeted the group’s information and recruitment networks.
A major breakthrough in this effort was the arrest of Sultan Aziz Azzam, the elusive head of Daesh Khorasan’s Al Azaim propaganda wing, who was apprehended red-handed while actively preparing extremist material. His capture dealt a severe blow to the group’s narrative machinery, which had been used to glorify attacks, recruit foreign fighters, and project operational strength despite sustained losses on the ground.
Intelligence officials say the neutralization of armed cells in areas such as Khyber, coupled with the dismantling of propaganda and command structures, has disrupted Daesh’s ability to coordinate attacks and exploit ungoverned spaces. The presence of foreign nationals among the militants killed in Bara further reinforces assessments that Daesh elements displaced from Afghanistan and other regions have sought to exploit Pakistan’s border districts as fallback zones.
Security sources maintain that claims denying the presence or movement of Daesh fighters across the region stand in sharp contrast to recoveries, arrests, and battlefield evidence accumulated during recent operations. They stress that Pakistan’s counterterrorism posture remains focused on denying space to transnational terrorist groups through sustained operations, intelligence sharing, and targeted actions against both kinetic and non-kinetic enablers of militancy.
Officials reiterate that the campaign against Daesh and other terrorist outfits will continue with the same intensity, ensuring that regrouping attempts, whether through armed cells or media networks, are identified early and dismantled before they can pose a threat to public safety or regional stability.
