Security forces have cleared two terrorist hideouts set up inside mosques in North Waziristan and recovered a large cache of explosives, weapons and ammunition, the military’s media wing said on Monday.

The intelligence-based operation was carried out on Sunday in Muzak village, on the southern outskirts of Mir Ali, against hideouts belonging to Fitna al-Khawarij, the state-designated term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), troops sanitised the two hideouts and recovered prepared improvised explosive devices (IEDs), material used to prepare explosives, weapons and ammunition.

The ISPR said the terrorists had deliberately established the hideouts inside mosques to store explosive materials and were also running torture cells there. The statement described the desecration of places of worship as evidence of the terrorists’ disregard for the teachings of Islam, and said their interpretation and misuse of religion was unacceptable to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan.

A sanitisation operation was continuing in the area to locate and eliminate any remaining hideouts, with the counter-terrorism campaign under the Azm-e-Istehkam vision continuing at full pace. The prime minister lauded the forces for the successful operation in Mir Ali.

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