PESHAWAR: As many as 17 more terrorists were killed during a sanitisation operation in the Hassan Khel area of North Waziristan, close to the Afghan border on Monday, a day after security forces claimed to have eliminated 54 outlaws and foiled an infiltration attempt in the same area.

The number of terrorists killed in three days of antiinfiltration operation has risen to 71, according to the military`s media wing.The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said following the successful engagements by the security forces in North Waziristan district, during which 54 `khwarij` (the state`s term for the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan) were killed, a sanitisation exercise was conducted in the surrounding areas on the night between April 27 and 28.

During the operation, 17 terrorists `operating on behest of their foreign masters, were hunted down and successfully neutralised`.

Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the killed terrorists, the ISPR statement added.

It said security forces remained committed to secure the nation`s frontiers and thwart attempts at sabotaging peace, stability and progress of Pakistan.

Since April 25, security forces have spotted the movement of a large group in the Hassan Khel area of the district along the PakAfghan border, the ISPR said, adding that troops engaged the group and in the ensuing exchange of fire 54 terrorists were killed and a large cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives were seized from them.

The ISPR said intelligence reports indicated that the group of 54 terror-ists was specifically infiltrating at the behest of their `foreign masters` to undertake high-profile terrorist activities inside Pakistan.

Sources said that security forces had prior information about a possible infiltration in the Margha area of the district, and an intelligence-based operation (IBO) was planned.

They added thatthe security forces trapped the terrorists by allowing them to cross the border and later surrounded them.

Social media accounts affiliated with Ittehadul Mujahideen Pakistan, a new militant conglomerate, acknowledged the casualties. The terror network formed earlier this month includes Hafiz Gul Bahadar Group from North Waziristan, Lashkar-i-Islam from Khyber tribal district, and a new group called Inqilab-i-Islami Pakistan.