Pakistani troops and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan group have exchanged fire in a northwestern region along the border with Afghanistan in a shootout that killed two soldiers and two terrorists.

According to the Pakistani army on Monday, the shootout took place late on Sunday in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban.

Two terrorists were also wounded, and troops seized a cache of weapons at the site, according to an army statement. A search operation was underway in the area, it said.

On Saturday night, the TTP also claimed responsibility for an attack in the Jani Khel area of Bannu district, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, leaving two soldiers and two terrorists dead.

Although the Pakistani military says it has cleared North Waziristan of militants, occasional attacks and shootouts continue, raising concerns that the Pakistani Taliban are regrouping in the area.

Though a separate group, the TTP remains a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021, during the last weeks of the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from the country after a two-decade invasion.

The takeover emboldened the TTP. They unilaterally ended a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government last November and have since stepped up their attacks in the country.

According to reports, TTP carried out the joint attack in collaboration with another faction of the Pakistani Taliban, the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group.

The armed group has been distancing itself from the Afghan Taliban and carrying out attacks independently.