The Pakistan Army claims to have killed 14 more terrorists “supported by India” while attempting to infiltrate across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Balochistan’s Zhob district.

Dawn, citing a statement from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), reported on Saturday that security forces conducted an operation on the night of Aug 8-9 near Sambaza.

The Pakistani military’s media wing said, “During the conduct of the operation, 14 more Indian-sponsored khwarij were hunted down and successfully neutralised. Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the killed khwarij.”

According to the report, this brings the total number of militants from the “Indian proxy Fitna al Khawarij” killed in recent days to 47.

It said 33 of them were killed earlier during security operations on Aug 7 and 8 in the same area.

Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The ISPR said the security forces remain “committed to secure the nation’s frontiers and thwart attempts at sabotaging peace, stability, and progress of Pakistan.”

Dawn reported that in May, the Pakistan government started referring to all Balochistan-based terrorist groups under the new name “Fitna al Hindustan” (Indian mischief).

The move aims at framing India’s alleged role in Pakistan’s terrorism as a deliberate destabilisation strategy, potentially to galvanise domestic support, it added.

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022, the report said.