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Today's Paper | November 18, 2024

Updated 23 Jul, 2017 11:08am

Khasadar personnel martyred in IED blast near Peshawar

A Khasadar personnel was martyred and another was injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in Khyber Agency's Sheen Drang area on Sunday, said security sources.

The injured official was transferred to a hospital in Peshawar after the blast occurred.

Security personnel cordoned off the area soon after the blast occurred. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the blast yet.

Khyber Agency is among Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal districts near the Afghan border, rife with homegrown insurgents and foreign militants.

A Fata Research Centre report said earlier this year that the incidence of terrorist attacks in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas increased by 72 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the last quarter of 2016.

The Pakistan Army had launched Operation Raddul Fasaad (RuF) in February following a spate of terror attacks in the country, which claimed more than a hundred lives and left hundreds others injured.

The operation seeks to eliminate the "residual/latent threat of terrorism", consolidating the gains made in other military operations, and further ensuring the security of Pakistan's borders.

Hundreds of suspected terrorists have reportedly either been killed or arrested in raids carried out by security personnel since the start of the operation.

Earlier this week, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Khyber-4 under RuF to "wipe out terrorists" in the Rajgal Valley area of Khyber Agency.

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