Pakistani troops kill 14 militants in raid in northwest region near Afghanistan

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ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s security forces raided a militant hideout and killed 14 insurgents during a shootout in the country’s northwest, the military said Wednesday.

The overnight raid was conducted on parts of the Pakistani Taliban that reportedly belonged to an Indian proxy in North Waziristan, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said in a statement.

New Delhi did not immediately comment.

Pakistan’s military said “sanitization operations” are being conducted to eliminate Pakistani Taliban groups it says are sponsored by India.

Pakistani authorities often accuse India of backing outlawed Baloch Liberation Army or BLA and Pakistani Taliban groups that commit violence in Pakistan.

The accusations have intensified since May in the wake of heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed nations. Cross-border tensions have escalated over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is divided between the two but sought in its entirety by each.

On Wednesday, insurgents kidnapped a government administrator, Hanif Noorzai, as he traveled in a car with his family members from the southwestern city of Turbat to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, district police chief Zohaib Hassan said.

In a statement, BLA claimed responsibility and said it was holding Noorzai. His family members were allowed to continue the journey.

The Pakistani Taliban, which calls itself Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, has been emboldened since its allies, the Afghan Taliban, returned to power in 2021. Many TTP leaders and fighters have taken sanctuary in Afghanistan.