Security forces have killed 74 militants in a series of intelligence-based operations in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military's media wing said on Friday, 13 November 2026. The operations were carried out in the Kurram area of Quetta district and in Mir Ali and Orakzai in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), troops launched a comprehensive intelligence-based area-clearance and sanitisation operation in the Kurram area of Quetta district on 3 November, targeting hideouts of groups the military describes as Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna al-Hindustan. During the operation, troops killed 31 militants after intense engagements, the ISPR said.

43 killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 48 hours

In separate intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the preceding 48 hours, security forces killed a further 43 militants, the ISPR said. Of those, 35 were killed in Mir Ali and eight in Orakzai, after troops engaged several militant positions in intense exchanges of fire.

The ISPR said weapons and explosives were recovered during the operations and that sanitisation operations were continuing to eliminate any remaining militants in the affected areas. The military described the operations as part of its ongoing counterterrorism campaign under the Azm-e-Istehkam initiative, approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan.

The ISPR described the groups targeted as Indian-sponsored. That characterisation comes from the military's statement; no evidence for the attribution was published alongside the announcement, and the casualty figures have not been independently verified.

A persistent hotspot

Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have remained the principal hotspots of militant violence in Pakistan, according to the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies, which reported that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the worst-affected province during the second quarter of 2026.

The latest operations follow a series of similar announcements in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the ISPR said 17 militants were killed in two operations in Balochistan's Kachhi and Kharan districts on 1 November, and 49 militants were reported killed in operations across both provinces over several days. In September, the military said more than 71 militants had been killed in Balochistan over 96 hours.

The security situation in the northwest has worsened in recent days. Earlier this week, at least 11 police personnel were killed in an ambush in the Darbokach area of Kohat district, and two police officers protecting polio vaccination teams were shot dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday.

Frequently asked questions

How many militants were killed, according to the ISPR? The ISPR said 74 militants were killed in total: 31 in the Kurram area of Quetta district, 35 in Mir Ali and eight in Orakzai.

Where did the operations take place? The Quetta operation began on 3 November in the Kurram area of Quetta district, Balochistan. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa operations took place in Mir Ali and Orakzai over the 48 hours before the announcement on Friday, 13 November 2026.

Have the figures been independently verified? No. The casualty figures come from the ISPR statement, and no independent casualty figures have been published from the affected districts.