Three Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred during an exchange of fire with the terrorists in the Arawali area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district on Thursday, the military's media affairs wing said.

An Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement identified the martyrs as 42-year-old Subedar Shuja Muhammad from Khairpur, 32-year-old Naik Muhammad Ramzan from Khuzdar, and 30-year-old Sepoy Abdul Rehman from Sukkur.

“On 29 December 22, an exchange of fire took place between terrorists and security forces in the general area of Arawali, Kurram District. Own troops fought bravely and effectively engaged the terrorists’ location,” the ISPR said.

“During an intense exchange of fire, two terrorists were killed. Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed terrorists,” it said, adding that the killed terrorists remained actively involved in terror activities against security forces.

The forces are carrying out sanitisation operations to eliminate any terrorists found in the area, it said.

“Pakistan Army is determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve,” the military’s media wing concluded.

The development comes days after five Pakistan Army personnel were martyred in an improvised explosive device (IED) during a clearance operation in Balochistan’s Kahan area.

The banned militant Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) group had claimed responsibility for the attack, the ISPR had said.

Pakistan is seeing an uptick in terrorist attacks across the country after the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its months-long ceasefire with the government last month.

Recent weeks and months have seen a resurgence of militancy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the southern belt, and merged districts, with increasing intensity of attacks on law enforcement personnel.