Terrorists attack checkpoint in northwest Pakistan; 2 TTP militants killed

More than 60 terrorists from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan attacked a border checkpost in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but were pushed back by security forces, killing two militants, officials said on Tuesday.

According to sources, the terrorists, linked to Muslim and Amjad groups of the Pakistani Taliban, attacked the Marghan checkpost in Kurram district on the border with Afghanistan.

The more than 60 terrorists were said to have been equipped with state-of-the-art weapons.

A heavy firefight broke out between security forces and terrorists, leaving two militants dead.

The TTP was founded in 2007 as an umbrella organization of several militant groups.

The Pakistani government has officially declared the banned organization as “Fitna al-Khawarij,” a reference to a group from earlier Islamic history that was involved in violence.

The term 'Khariji' will now be used alongside the names of these terrorists to reveal their true identities. Moreover, the use of religious titles such as 'Mufti' and 'Hafiz' is banned for people associated with terrorist organisations, sources said.

This renaming of the TTP reflects the government's determination to fight terrorism by delegitimizing its ideology.

As part of its broader counterterrorism efforts, the government banned two more militant groups: the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group and the Majeed Brigade (MB), bringing the total number of banned organizations to 81.

According to a digital database maintained by an Islamabad-based think tank, a total of 59 terrorist attacks occurred across Pakistan in August 2024, killing 84 people.

This brings the total number of attacks in the country this year to 325, according to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).