Two school students were killed in a crossfire between police and a wanted terrorist during a search operation in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said on Friday.

In the exchange of fire during the search operation conducted on the intelligence-based reports in the Kot Azam area of the Tank district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province on Thursday, the wanted terrorist was killed, they said.

Two eighth-grade students were also killed as they were caught during the lethal cross-firing, police said.

Police said they have recovered a sub-machine gun, ammunition, two hand grenades and a motorbike from possession of the slain terrorist.

There has been an uptick in terrorism incidents by militants and separatist groups in Pakistan in recent months as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant outfits have intensified actions against security forces. It has prompted the security forces and the local police to intensify operations against the terrorists.

In a fresh wave of terrorism, nine people, including two soldiers, were killed and several others injured in four different terror incidents in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday.

In another restive province, Balochistan, Pakistani security forces killed at least four terrorists in a gunfight on Thursday and recovered a cache of weapons, including pistols, grenades, an improvised explosive device-fitted motorbike, and other arms during the operation.

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