Pakistan army captain and 10 militants killed in a security raid in the northwest

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DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in the country’s northwest on Thursday, triggering an intense gunbattle that left an army captain and 10 militants dead, the military said.

The raid was conducted in Dera Ismail Khan, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, the military said in a statement.

It identified the slain officer as Capt. Hasnain Akhtar, saying he was leading his troops from the front and after fighting “gallantly” he “paid the ultimate sacrifice and was martyred.”

The military also described the dead militants as “Khwarij,” a phrase the government uses for Pakistani Taliban, which are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, and are allies of the Afghan Taliban. TTP is a separate group and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.