Attacks from January to September and blocked convoys highlight ongoing volatility in Kurram
Security forces killed 23 militants in two intelligence-based operations in Kurram district, the military said on Thursday. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operations were carried out on 19 November following reports of the presence of militants it described as belonging to the Indian-sponsored group “Fitna Al Khwarij”.
The ISPR said the first engagement took place after troops intercepted movements in a remote part of the district. The statement noted that an intense exchange of fire ensued and twelve militants were killed. Another intelligence input led to another operation in the same wider area in which eleven more militants were “neutralized”, the military said. It added that clean-up efforts were continuing under the broader anti-terrorist campaign Azm-e-Istehkam, which was endorsed by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan.
The latest action follows a series of violent incidents across Kurram this year. In January, two separate attacks targeted supply convoys on the Thall-Parachinar route, one of which left eight people dead. The disruption of essential traffic prompted authorities to facilitate a 225-vehicle relief convoy that reached Parachinar in March after days of blocked access.
In June, four people were killed and four injured in a roadside improvised explosive device near Parachinar. A militant attack in September forced the temporary closure of the same key road, underscoring the ongoing insecurity in the district.
Kurram lies in a narrow valley framed by the Safed Koh mountains and connected through a network of passes that are vulnerable to weather and conflict-related closures. Parachinar serves as the district headquarters and sits close to the Afghan border, giving the area strategic weight but also exposing it to regional spillovers.
The district’s population includes Shia Turi communities in Upper Kurram and Sunni Pashtun tribes such as the Bangash in Central and Lower Kurram. Local disputes over land, access routes and security have simmered for decades and intensified during earlier phases of militancy. Although the 2018 merger of the former tribal region into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa brought administrative changes, recurring attacks on convoys and market routes show that many underlying tensions remain unresolved.
