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ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces have killed seven Pakistani Taliban militants in the country's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the military said on Sunday, amid a surge in militancy in the region.

The militants were killed during an intelligence-based operation in Dera Ismail Khan district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military's media wing. Three Afghan nationals and two suicide bombers were among the deceased.

The Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups have frequently targeted security forces convoys and check-posts in KP, besides targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in recent months.

The ISPR said a sanitization operation was being conducted to eliminate any other "Indian-sponsored" militant in the area, adding that Pakistani security forces are determined to wipe out the menace militancy from the country.

"Pakistan expects the interim Afghan government to uphold its responsibilities and deny its soil for terrorists activities against Pakistan," it said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from Afghanistan or India in response to the Pakistani military's statement.

It came days after 12 Pakistani soldiers and over 60 militants were killed in separate engagements in the restive region that borders Afghanistan, according to the ISPR.

Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between the Pakistani Taliban and Islamabad broke down in November 2022.

Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil and India of backing militant groups for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi deny the allegation.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated Pakistan’s desire to improve relations with India on Sunday but said it was only possible through the resolution of the longstanding dispute between the two nations on the Kashmir territory. 

India and Pakistan, who have fought two out of three wars over the disputed Himalayan territory since 1947, each administer parts of Kashmir but claim it in full. Ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbors hit their lowest in years in May after an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April triggered a brief military confrontation between the two. 

Over 70 people were killed in both countries as India and Pakistan traded missiles, artillery fire and bombed each other with fighter jets and drones before Washington brokered a ceasefire on May 10. 

Speaking to Pakistani expatriates at an event in London, Sharif said Pakistan desired peaceful relations with India, adding that it was for both nations to decide whether they wanted to live in peace or conflict. 

“But for that to happen, the resolution of the Kashmir dispute is a basic pillar,” Sharif said. “If anyone thinks that without the resolution of the Kashmir dispute our bilateral relations can be restored, he is living in a fool’s paradise,” he added. 

He praised the country’s military leadership for defending Pakistan successfully during the days-long military confrontation between the two neighbors in May.

Speaking on rising tensions in the Middle East, the Pakistani prime minister also condemned Israel’s war on Gaza. Sharif lamented that it had killed over 65,000 Palestinians since October 2023, noting that the world had neither seen nor heard of such atrocities before. 

“I believe the time has come that we need peace in this region,” he said. “And the Islamic world must step forward and talk about peace.”

The fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan, brokered by US President Donald Trump on May 10, continues to persist, but tensions remain high. India has vowed to hold in abeyance a 1960 water-sharing treaty that decides the use of the Indus River system between India and Pakistan. 

However, Pakistan has warned that it will not allow India to divert or restrict the flow of its water. Islamabad has said it would treat India’s attempts to do so as an “act of war.”