Militants shot dead tribal leader in Bannu district as violence escalates, officials say
At least 10 people, including nine suspected militants, were killed in clashes and attacks in Pakistan's Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, authorities said Saturday.
In Punjab's Dera Ghazi Khan district, police said an intense armed encounter with suspected Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants took place early Saturday in Jaday Wala village. Five militants were killed, with operations still ongoing, police said in a statement.
In separate operations, security forces killed four more suspected militants in the Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said.
Militants also shot dead a local tribal leader, Malik Eid Nawaz, in the Bannu district of the same province, according to police.
On Friday, Pakistan's military said it killed at least 30 suspected militants attempting to cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Last week, at least 13 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing in North Waziristan near the Afghan border, while 14 militants were killed by the army in subsequent operations.
Islamabad accuses TTP militants, allegedly based in Afghanistan, of carrying out cross-border attacks, a claim Kabul denies.
