Pakistan Army on Wednesday launched its anti-terrorist offensive, said a military spokesman, the latest in a series of operations security forces have launched to counter militants.
Major General Asif Ghafoor, director general of the military’s media wing, said the operation is aimed at “indiscriminately” tackling terrorism.
Pak Army launches 'Op Radd-ul-Fasaad' (رَدُّالفَسَاد) across the country. Rangers ops in Pb, cont ongoing ops elsewhere. Pursuance of NAP. pic.twitter.com/sibMpV7Vby
— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 22, 2017
“The effort entails conduct of broad spectrum security/counter-terrorism operations by Rangers in Punjab, continuation of ongoing operations across the country and focus on more effective border security management,” added the statement.
A series of bombings, in which more than 100 people were killed, has shattered a nascent sense that the worst of the country's militant violence might be in the past.
The deadliest of the attacks was on a famous Sufi Muslim shrine in Sindh and was claimed by the Middle-Eastern militant group Islamic State.
The group has a small but increasingly prominent presence in Pakistan. Fighters loyal to it are known to be operating under different names to attack the government, army and members of religious minorities.
Most of the other recent attacks have been claimed by factions of the Taliban, which is waging its own fight against the government but whose ranks have also cooperated with, and sometimes defected to, Islamic State.
