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Security forces kill 11 India-backed terrorists in two KP IBOs: ISPR
- Six khwarij gunned down in North Waziristan, says ISPR.
- Five terrorists killed in Kurram IBO: military’s media wing.
- Adds sanitisation continues to hunt remaining militants.
RAWALPINDI: Security forces neutralised 11 terrorists belonging to India proxy Fitna al-Khawarij during two separate intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Saturday.
The operations were conducted in North Waziristan and Kurram districts on January 8, a press release issued by the military’s media wing said.
“On January 8, 2026, eleven khwarij belonging to India proxy Fitna al-Khawarij were killed in two separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,” the ISPR added.
It said that on the reported presence of khwarij, an intelligence-based operation was conducted by the security forces in the North Waziristan district.
“During the conduct of the operation, troops effectively engaged the khwarij location, and after an intense fire exchange, six khwarij were sent to hell,” the ISPR press release stated.
In a separate engagement, the military’s media wing said five khwarij were effectively neutralised by police and security forces in Kurram district.
“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from killed India-sponsored khwarij, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces, law enforcement agencies, and target killing of innocent civilians,” the ISPR said.
“Sanitisation operations are being conducted to eliminate any other India-sponsored kharji found in the area as a relentless counter terrorism campaign under vision “Azm e Istehkam” will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” it added.
Pakistan has experienced a rise in cross-border terrorist incidents since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021. The provinces of KP and Balochistan, which border Afghanistan, have been particularly affected by these attacks.
ISPR Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, in his presser on January 6, said that law enforcement agencies carried out 75,175 IBOs across the country in 2025.
Giving a breakdown, he said 14,658 IBOs were conducted in KP, 58,778 in Balochistan, while 1,739 operations took place in the rest of the country.
Lt Gen Chaudhry said that 5,397 terrorism incidents were reported nationwide during the last year. Of these, 3,811 incidents, he said, occurred in KP, 1,557 in Balochistan, and 29 incidents were reported in other parts of the country.
He said that 2,597 terrorists were killed during counterterror operations last year. While providing details of 10 major terror attacks across the country, he said that civilians and soft targets had been deliberately targeted, and Afghan militants were involved in all attacks.
The United States (U.S.) has opened another military front in Ecuador amid the ongoing Iran war.
According to the U.S. military’s Southern Command, the U.S. and Ecuadorian forces launched joint military operations against “designated terrorist organisations.”
The military did not provide further details; however, it hinted that the operations were part of President Donald Trump’s intensified campaign against drug trafficking in South America.
The Commander of the U.S. Southern Command praised the Ecuadorian residents for their support and unwavering commitment.
Marine General Francis L. Donovan said, “The men and women of Ecuadorian armed forces have demonstrated remarkable courage and resolve through continued actions against narco-terrorists in their country.”
Since returning to the Oval Office for his second term, President Trump has intensified campaign against what the U.S. administration describes as drug trafficking.
The U.S. has carried out around 45 strikes on suspected smuggling vessels killing around 150 people in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.
Ecuador has been in a state of emergency regarding narco-terrorism since 2024 after gangs stormed a TV station during a live broadcast and took the staff hostage.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa sought help from the U.S. against drug-trafficking gangs.
On a visit to the South American country in September last year, the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to “blow up” gangs if needed and reaffirmed U.S. support in Ecuadorian government’s campaign against narco-terrorists.
Apple on Wednesday unveiled the MacBook Neo, a lower-priced addition to its laptop lineup starting at $599, as it looks to broaden its reach in a price-sensitive PC market while rivals face tighter supply of memory chips.
A lower-priced laptop marks one of Apple’s most aggressive entry points into the PC market in years. The new MacBook will be powered by the A18 Pro chip, the same processor that debuted in the company’s iPhone 16 Pro models in 2024.
At $599, it is far cheaper in both nominal and inflation-adjusted terms than Apple’s previous non-Pro, non-Air MacBook, which debuted in May 2006 at $1,099 — roughly $1,750 in today’s dollars.
The new MacBook is not Apple’s first foray into the price point. The company made a special $699 MacBook Air specially for Walmart using its M1 chip, which originally debuted in 2020, after retiring other models with that chip.
The new MacBook aims squarely at users of Google-powered Chromebooks and lower-end Windows devices, where Microsoft’s own efforts to shift to more battery-life-friendly chips made with technology from Arm have failed to ignite a sales boom.
Its foray into the mid-range PC segment could help Apple broaden its reach among students and first-time buyers.
In the midst of a global memory chip crunch, the new MacBook also comes with only 8 gigabytes of unified memory, half of the 16 gigabytes in the M4-based MacBook and less than the 12 gigabytes in the iPhone 17 Pro.
Global PC and smartphone markets remain highly price sensitive after several quarters of uneven demand, and hardware makers continue to navigate fluctuating component costs, particularly for memory chips.
Apple this week launched its $599 iPhone 17e with higher base storage and refreshed its MacBook Air and Pro lineup with new M5 chips and standard configurations with larger memory, as it looks to defend market share in competitive smartphone and softening PC markets, strained by rising memory costs.
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