A key commander of the Pakistani Taliban was today killed in a joint search and strike operation by security forces and police in the country's restive northwest province.
Bakhti Raj, a regional commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was shot dead in the mountainous Buner district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The security forces and police conducted a joint search operation in Bajkata area and killed TTP commander Bakhti Raj after brief exchange of fire, said District police officer Khalid Mehmood Hamdani.
The search operation is still underway in the area, he said.
The law enforcement agencies in the wee hours of today had imposed a curfew after receiving information about the presence of terrorists in the area.
A senior commander of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi outfit and the mastermind of a suicide bombing at a mosque which killed over 60 Shiite Muslims was among the two militants killed in an encounter in Pakistan's troubled Baluchistan province on Sunday.
Pakistan military has intensified its 'Zarb-e-azab' operation launched in June last year in militants' stronghold of North Waziristan after the Peshawar school attack by Taliban militants killed 150 people, including 136 students.
Army claims that more than 1,600 militants have been killed in the operation.
