A key commander of the Pakistan Taliban was on Tuesday killed in a joint search and strike operation by security forces and police in the country’s restive northwest province.
Bakhti Raj, a regional commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was shot dead in the mountainous Buner district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The security forces and police conducted a joint search operation in Bajkata area and killed TTP commander Bakhti Raj after brief exchange of fire, said district police officer Khalid Mehmood Hamdani.
Pakistan military has intensified its ‘Zarb-e-azab’ operation launched in June 2014 in militants’ stronghold of North Waziristan after the Peshawar school attack, which killed 150 people, including 136 students.