Police kill wanted TTP commander Saifullah in Khyber operation

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police killed a wanted commander of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), identified as Saifullah, during an operation in the Bara Sheikhhan area of Khyber district, according to reports by Express News and The Express Tribune.

Two police personnel received minor injuries when the suspected militants threw a grenade during the operation. They were given first aid.

Police said Saifullah was affiliated with what they call Fitna al-Khawarij and was wanted by police and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in several serious cases. He had been declared a proclaimed offender.

According to police, Saifullah had lived in Afghanistan for three years to evade arrest and had recently returned to Pakistan as commander of a terrorist group to carry out attacks. CTD records link him to attacks on security checkpoints in the Maidanak area and to IED blasts at Ali Masjid in Jamrud.

Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed praised the personnel involved. He said: "The police personnel who killed the Khawarij commander in a successful operation and saved hundreds of innocent lives are an asset to the nation." He said operations and raids would continue until the country was cleared of the last terrorist.

The Express Tribune also reported that police foiled an attack on Band Korai police station in Dera Ismail Khan late on Wednesday night. Attackers rammed an explosives-laden pick-up truck into the main gate. No casualties were reported and all police at the station remained safe.

The developments came a day after 10 police personnel, including a DSP and a sub-inspector, were killed in an attack on a police team in Kohat. Eighteen terrorists were killed in the exchange of fire, the Tribune reported.

The paper added that two security reports presented to the federal cabinet in October showed a 195 per cent rise in terrorist incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa between March 2024 and September 2026. The reports found that 73 per cent of attacks in 2026 targeted police and security personnel.