Dera Ismail Khan, February 2, 2025: Four Levies personnel and a driver were martyred when their vehicle came under attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district.
According to the assistant commissioner, the attack occurred in Tehsil Daraban as the Levies personnel were en route to recover a stolen truck. Their vehicle, driven by private staff, was ambushed by unidentified assailants. The bodies of the martyred personnel have been shifted to Daraban Hospital, while an investigation is underway.
The tragic incident is the latest in a surge of militant attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where security challenges have intensified since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
In response to the growing militancy, security forces have ramped up counterterrorism operations across the country, particularly in KP and Balochistan—both bordering Afghanistan.
On Saturday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) announced that 23 terrorists were killed in separate operations in Balochistan. During the Mangocher operation, conducted between the night of January 31 and February 1, 18 Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers embraced martyrdom while preventing militants from establishing roadblocks in the area.
Reacting to the recent operations, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir condemned terrorist outfits operating as proxies for foreign interests.
“Those acting as terrorist proxies for their foreign masters—who have mastered the art of double standards, hunting with the hound and running with the hare—are well known to us,” the army chief asserted during his visit to Balochistan on Saturday.
His remarks come in the wake of a deadly 2024, which, according to the CRSS Annual Security Report 2024, was the most violent year for Pakistan’s security forces in a decade. The report, issued by the Centre for Security and Strategic Studies (CSSS), recorded 685 security personnel fatalities in 444 terror attacks.
The highest number of casualties was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which recorded 1,616 fatalities, followed by Balochistan with 782 deaths. In total, Pakistan witnessed 2,546 violence-related fatalities and 2,267 injuries among civilians, security forces, and outlaws in 2024.
