# 37 militants killed after Hangu: 28 in cross-border air strikes, says government

Source: Searchable (https://searchable.pk/news/pakistan/37-militants-killed-after-hangu-28-in-cross-border-air-strikes-says-government)
Type: News article
Author: Searchable Editorial
Published: 21 Sept 2026
Updated: 25 Sept 2026
Retrieved: 30 Sept 2026

> The information ministry says nine were killed in a ground operation in Kohat and Hangu and 28 in selective strikes on camps in the border region with Afghanistan, including a suicide bomber training centre.

The government says 37 militants were killed in operations announced on Monday, the response to the Hangu firefight in which six soldiers were martyred.

The information ministry's account, reported by The News, splits the figure two ways. **Nine** were killed in a ground operation across **Kohat and Hangu** districts. **Twenty-eight** were killed in air strikes on camps and hideouts in the **border region with Afghanistan**.

The ministry named Fitna al-Khawarij and its affiliates as the target. It said three targets were destroyed, among them a suicide bomber training centre, along with large quantities of weapons and ammunition.

## What preceded it

On Saturday a firefight in Hangu killed six soldiers, two of them officers: Captain Abuzar Farooq and Lieutenant Sheraz Babar. [Our report on that engagement is here](/news/pakistan/hangu-firefight-2-officers-among-6-soldiers-martyred-8-militants-killed). Eight militants were killed in that exchange.

The same weekend saw four militants killed in a Panjgur operation in Balochistan, and the bodies of two Frontier Corps personnel who had gone missing in Bannu were recovered.

## The cross-border element

The part that carries weight beyond the casualty count is the strikes across the border. The ministry describing them as selective targeting of camps in the border region with Afghanistan is an explicit statement, not an unattributed report, and Pakistan has used that formulation before when acknowledging strikes on the Afghan side.

These episodes have a pattern: a strike, an Afghan protest, a period of closed crossings, and a knock-on effect on trade. For readers in Peshawar, Chaman and the transit trade generally, border closures cost more in a week than the headlines suggest. Torkham and Chaman handle the bulk of Pakistan-Afghanistan trade, and a closure strands trucks carrying perishables on both sides.

## Where the year stands

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has carried the bulk of Pakistan's counter-terrorism operations through 2026, with announcements of this kind coming at a rate of several a month. Earlier in September the military announced 21 killed in multiple KP operations, and separately 32 across KP and Balochistan.

The raw totals are a poor measure of anything. What is measurable is the cost on the other side: soldiers, police and civilians killed in attacks that keep coming despite the operations, and the districts where schools, markets and polio teams are the ones that pay. The nationwide [polio drive running 21 to 27 September](/news/health/polio-drive-21-to-27-september-31m-children-across-115-districts) covers 115 districts, and the security of the teams in KP's southern districts is the recurring constraint on whether those children get reached.

No independent verification of the figures is available. They are the government's own account.

## Frequently asked questions

**How many were killed and where?**

The information ministry says 37: nine in a ground operation in Kohat and Hangu districts, and 28 in air strikes on camps in the border region with Afghanistan, announced on 21 September 2026.

## Sources

- Pakistan carries out strikes, IBO against militant hideouts along Afghanistan border (The News): https://www.thenews.pk/story/1438599-pakistan-carries-out-strikes-ibo-against-militant-hideouts-along-afghanistan-border
- Security forces kill 37 terrorists in KP operations, air strikes: govt (Business Recorder): https://www.brecorder.com/news/40440505/security-forces-kill-37-terrorists-in-kp-operations-air-strikes-govt
- Pakistan carries out calibrated air strikes against terrorist hideouts near Afghan border after K-P attacks (The Express Tribune): https://tribune.com.pk/story/2630553/pakistan-carries-out-calibrated-air-strikes-against-terrorist-hideouts-near-afghan-border-after-k-p

How to cite: "37 militants killed after Hangu: 28 in cross-border air strikes, says government", Searchable, 25 Sept 2026, https://searchable.pk/news/pakistan/37-militants-killed-after-hangu-28-in-cross-border-air-strikes-says-government