March 22, 2023
Staff Report
LAHORE
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officer, Brigadier Mustafa Kamal Barki, was martyred, along with three soldiers, while seven others were injured, during an encounter with militants at the Angoor Adda check post in South Waziristan district on Tuesday.
ISPR has confirmed this information adding that the Brigadier was leading the encounter from the front and that he was killed during the gun battle. During the intense exchange of fire, 42-year-old Havaldar Muhammad Azhar Iqbal from Lodhran, 34-year-old Naik Muhammad Asad from Khanewal, and 22-year-old Sepoy Muhammad Essa from South Waziristan were also martyred.
Brigadier Barki is the second most high-ranking ISI official who was killed in a militant. In January 2023, two ISI officials — Director Naveed Sadiq Sial and Inspector Nasir Abbas — were killed in a gun attack at a roadside restaurant in the Pirowal area of Khanewal.
“Brigadier Mustafa Kamal Barki from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), while leading the encounter from the front, embraced Shahadat (martyrdom),” the ISPR press statement said.
The ISPR statement said that the security forces had immediately cordoned off the area and had blocked all possible escape routes.
It said that the fleeing terrorists were intercepted in the Saggu area of the district. After an intense exchange of fire, three terrorists were killed, and weapons and ammunition were recovered from them.
The ISPR statement added that the area is being sanitized to eliminate any remaining terrorists. “Pakistan Army remains determined to eradicate terrorism, and the sacrifices of our brave soldiers strengthen our resolve,” the statement said.
Security forces have killed at least 142 terrorists during the last three months as operations to eliminate terrorism from the country continue. At least 1,007 terrorists were arrested during 6,921 operations by security forces across the country in the last three months.
A total of 1,960 operations were conducted in KP, of which 1,516 were area-domination operations, 301 were intelligence based operations, and 143 were area-sanitization operations.
As a result of the operations conducted by the security forces, 98 terrorists were killed and 540 were arrested in KP.
On December 18, 2022, TTP in District Bannu, attacked a counterterrorism center. The officers were held hostage till two days when Pakistan’s security forces carried out a military operation siege to the center, releasing all the hostages and killing 25 militants inside. Three officers were killed during the siege.
Also in January this year, The Karachi Police Office building in Karachi came under attack on Feb 17. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah declared that three terrorists had been killed. Four people were killed and 19 were injured in the incident.
