ISLAMABAD, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Eight terrorists including three terrorist commanders were killed in two separate operations by Pakistani security forces in the country's northwest North Waziristan tribal district, an army statement said on Saturday.
The intelligence-based operations were conducted in two different areas of the district located along Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The terrorists belonged to different factions of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and had remained involved in terrorist activities against security forces, law enforcement agencies and locals of the area since 2009, the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations said in the statement.
The terrorists also carried out improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, firing, target killing, kidnapping for ransom and extortion.
"These terrorists were also involved in recruiting terrorists in the area. Security forces recovered huge cache of arms from hideouts," the statement added.
North Waziristan used to be a hotbed of militancy, but the security forces have successfully flushed out the terrorists from the area in separate armed offensives.
Though the area has been purged from the militancy to a great extent, sporadic attacks continue in the area by the militants who are at flee but come back to the area to launch attacks at security personnel whenever they find a chance to breach the security of the highly guarded area. Enditem