Two Pakistani Taliban commanders killed in northwest, police officer says

Pakistani police killed two commanders from a militant group in the country's northwest, a local officer said on Saturday.

Pakistan has increased its operations against militants after a surge in violence by the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, particularly in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November, ordering its fighters to carry out attacks across the country.

Regional police officer Muhammad Ali Gandapur said the slain TTP fighters were wanted in connection with the killing of five police officers and were also involved in attacks on security checkpoints.

The government had a bounty of $7,259 on the two men.

Police arrested four fighters and recovered gunpowder, hand grenades, electronic detonators and Kalashnikov rifles in the same intelligence operation in Hund village, Swabi district.

The operation came days after a suicide bomber attacked a mosque within a police and government compound in the city of Peshawar, the provincial capital, killing 101 people and wounding at least 225.

The attack was one of the deadliest in years in the volatile region.