TTP commander among 3 militants killed in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

Peshawar: Pakistani security forces have killed a notorious Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander and two others and made several key arrests in separate intelligence-based operations in the country's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, media reports said on Tuesday.

Acting on information about the reported presence of militants, security forces conducted two separate operations on Monday in the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts of the country's northwest province bordering Afghanistan, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Abdul Jabar Shah of the banned TTP Gandapur group was among the three militants killed by the security forces following an intense exchange of fire, the report said.

Shah was involved in multiple attacks on law enforcement agencies and polio teams.

Two terrorists were also injured in the operation.

In a separate operation conducted by the security forces, seven terrorists, including Mehtab alias Lala, a key commander of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, were arrested in the North Waziristan tribal district.

The arrested militants were wanted for numerous terrorist activities, especially target killings against security forces and citizens.

Last week at least seven terrorists were killed, while three Pakistani soldiers lost their lives in separate encounters with militants in the province.

The outlawed TTP has increased the attacks in recent months and has apparently become stronger since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.

The militant group, set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007, called off a ceasefire with the federal government and ordered its militants to stage terrorist attacks country-wide.