ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed five terrorists, including the ring leader, in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Friday. According to a statement issued by the military’s media wing, security forces conducted the operation on the reported presence of terrorists in the general area Maddi of Dera Ismail Khan. “During the conduct of the operation, our troops effectively engaged khwarij’s [terrorists] location, resultantly, five khwarij including ring leader Shafiullah aka Shafi, were sent to hell,” the ISPR said. Furthermore, it said, the security forces also recovered weapons and ammunition from the killed terrorists, who “remained actively involved in terrorist activities against security forces as well as target killing of innocent civilians”.”Sanitisation operation is being carried out to eliminate any other Kharji found in the area, as security forces of Pakistan.are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” it concluded. A day earlier, the security forces rescued eight of 17 civilian workers who were abducted at gunpoint by banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Lakki Marwat district. Sources told Geo News that the militants ambushed a vehicle transporting unarmed civilians, took them hostage, set it on fire, and fled with the captives. The nation has been reeling under rising violent attacks since the Taliban rulers returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, particularly in the bordering provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.