At least seven militants were killed on Sunday evening during a successful security operation in the mountainous area of Kalachi, a tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A government source told The Khorasan Diary that the militants were killed after security forces targeted one of their hideouts. Local sources had earlier reported the presence of TTP-appointed commander Alam Mehsud and several Afghan nationals in the area. They were reportedly staying in the Kot Zafar Baladasti locality.

Alam Mehsud had recently been appointed by the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the head of this region. However, there is still no confirmed evidence that he was among those killed in the operation.

According to the report, a local resident described the compound where the militants were hiding as the “Khalifa Baithak.” Sources also said that several bodies were seen lying under a tree inside the compound.