As many as 13 Khawarij were killed in a gunbattle with security forces personnel in South Waziristan District, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
According to an ISPR press release which was issued on Wednesday, the security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in general area Sararogha, South Waziristan District on reported presence of khawarij terrorists on the night between December 24 and 25.
During the conduct of the operation, troops effectively engaged khawarij location, as a result of which, 13 khawarij were sent to hell.
Killed khawarij remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as killing of innocent civilians, the ISPR statement said and added, a sanitization operation was carried out to eliminate any other Khawarij found in the area, as security forces of Pakistan were determined to wipe-out the menace of terrorism from the country.
The latest operation came days after Tehreek–e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed a raid on an army outpost near the border with Afghanistan, which Pakistani officials said martyred 16 soldiers.
Islamabad has accused Kabul's Taliban authorities of harbouring militant fighters, allowing them to strike on Pakistani soil with impunity.
A UN Security Council report in July estimated up to 6,500 TTP fighters are based there -- and said "the Taliban do not conceive of TTP as a terrorist group".
Reporter Ahmad Mansoor