At least six Pakistan Army soldiers, including a captain, were martyred, while seven Fitna al Khawarij terrorists were killed during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the general area of Dogar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Wednesday.

According to a statement from the ISPR, the operation was conducted based on intelligence regarding the presence of terrorists affiliated with Fitna al-Khawarij.

“During the conduct of [the] operation, seven Indian sponsored khwarij were sent to hell due to effective engagement by own troops,” the statement said.

However, Captain Noman Saleem (age: 24, resident of Mianwali), Havaldar Amjad Ali (age: 39, resident of Swabi), Naik Waqas Ahmad (age: 36, resident of Rawalpindi), Sepoy Aijaz Ali (age: 23, resident of Shikarpur), Sepoy Muhammad Waleed (age: 23, resident of Jhelum) and Sepoy Muhammad Shahbaz (age: 32, resident of Khairpur) were all martyred in the gun battle.

Captain Noman was “a brave young medical officer who, besides performing the duties of medical care, also fought gallantly and embraced shahadat (martyrdom) along with his five men,” the statement read.

A “sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored kharji found in the area, as relentless counter terrorism campaign under vision ‘Azm-e-Istehkam’ (as approved by Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out menace of foreign sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” the statement said.