Online Desk: Seven terrorists were killed and six critically injured by security forces in an exchange of fire in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chitral district, according to a press release from the military’s media wing on Sunday, Dawn reports.

The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release said the skirmish took place on Saturday in the district’s general area of Ursoon when “troops effectively engaged terrorists’ location”.

It added that the area was being sanitised to clear it of any terrorists in the vicinity.

“Locals of the area appreciated the operation by the security forces and expressed their full support to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country,” the ISPR said.

The operation had come in the wake of Wednesday’s terrorist attack on two military posts in the Lower Chitral district. At least four security men had embraced martyrdom while more than 16 fighters were killed as militants’ attempts to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan were foiled by troops deployed along the border with Afghanistan.

The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack through its spokesperson, Mohammad Khorasani.