Security forces kill 11 militants in northwest region bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani military says

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Pakistani security forces killed eleven militants in two raids Monday targeting their hideouts in the volatile northwest region bordering Afghanistan, the military aid in a statement.

Ten militants were killed in the first raid in Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. This came a day after gunmen shot and killed two Pakistani customs officials there.

Another militant was killed in the second raid in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the North Waziristan district in the northwest.

Such operations often target the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP.

The TTP are a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban takeover in neighboring Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban.