PESHAWAR July 23 (TNS): An improvised explosive device (IED) went off in Khyber Agency’s Sheen Drang area on Sunday martyring a Khasadar force guy and injuring another, security sources said.
Security personnel cordoned off the area soon after the blast occurred. The injured worker was transferred to a hospital in Peshawar after the blast occurred. Khyber Agency is among Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal districts near the Afghan border, rife with homegrown insurgents and foreign militants.
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, a Fata Research Centre report said earlier this year.
Following a spate of terror attacks in the country, which claimed more than a hundred lives and left hundreds others injured, the Pakistan Army had launched Operation Raddul Fasaad (RuF) in February. 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.
In raids carried out by security personnel since the start of the operation, hundreds of suspected terrorists have reportedly either been killed or arrested. Earlier this week, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Khyber-4 under RuF to “wipe out terrorists” in the Rajgal Valley area of Khyber Agency.
