ISLAMABAD, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani forces have killed 13 terrorists and destroyed many of their hideouts during a major operation currently underway in a difficult mountainous terrain, the military said on Thursday.
Operation "Khyber-4" was launched on July 16 in Rajgal, a valley in Khyber tribal area, bordering Afghanistan where the militant groups still have some hideouts.
Operation 'Khyber-4' is progressing as planned. Advancing from multiple directions, troops including special services group have cleared 90-square-km area and now are squeezing the terrorists, the army spokesman said in a statement.
He said that terrorists had laid number of improvised explosive devices, which have been detected, recovered and neutralized by Pakistan Army Engineers Counter IED teams.
Many terrorist hideouts have been destroyed in targeted strikes by Pakistan Air Force, Army Aviation and Artillery, the spokesman said.
"So far 13 terrorists have been killed and six injured. During exchange of fire a soldier Abdul Jabbar has laid his life for the motherland," he said.
The military spokesman had stated the operation was launched to "break the contacts between Afghanistan-based Daesh with Pakistani militants and to stop the Daesh militants from entering Pakistani areas from Afghanistan."
Pakistani forces launched the operation a day after the U.S. defense department Pentagon said that the U.S. forces killed the Daesh regional leader Abu Sayed in a recent airstrike in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province. Abu Sayed was the third Daesh leader for Khorasan region who has been killed in Afghanistan in one year.
