PESHAWAR: Police said they killed at least three Islamic State militants Thursday on the outskirts of Peshawar, close to the border with Afghanistan.
Two or three other militants escaped the raid, which was carried out after a tip-off, the anti-terrorism police said in a statement.
A source told AFP that the militants had entered Pakistan from Afghanistan.
In August, local media reported that police had killed at least 11 Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) militants in Quetta, the capital of western Balochistan province, also adjacent to Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials have previously denied the Islamic State’s presence in the country, but the group has claimed a number of attacks on the Shiite community, including a bombing at a market in Quetta in 2019 that killed more than 20 people.
Their former stronghold of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan borders Pakistan, and the group recruits from both countries.
Though also a Sunni Islamist group, the IS has a bitter rivalry with the Taliban and has carried out a string of attacks in Afghanistan in recent weeks, putting pressure on the country’s new rulers.
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