SEVEN Pakistani soldiers and five terrorists were killed in a gun battle in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan on Wednesday (15), the military said.
Based on a tip-off, the soldiers launched a cordon and search operation in the tribal district of South Waziristan near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Exchange of fire began near a private compound, where the seven soldiers were killed. The forces neutralised all the five militants in hiding, according to a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Mehmud Khan expressed grief over the killed soldiers. The entire nation stands behind the armed forces in the war against terror, he said.
Incidents of terror have increased in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in recent months.
In July, at least 13 people, including nine Chinese, were killed in a terrorist attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A bus carrying Chinese engineers and workers to the site of the under-construction Dasu Dam exploded on July 14. The bus fell into a deep ravine after the explosion in the Upper Kohistan district.
Damian Talbot
Nirmala Sitharaman speaks at the India-UK Investor Roundtable in London last Wednesday (9). On the panel were India’s department of economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth and Kotak Mahindra Bank founder Uday Kotak
Sitharaman with Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves
Sitharaman with Jonathan Reynolds 
Sitharaman with Reynolds, Alastair King, India’s high commissioner Vikram Doraiswami and other delegates