Pakistan, June 17 -- Pakistan's counterterrorism police on Tuesday said five suspected militants were killed in an intelligence-based operation in the country's Punjab province.

The operation comes amid a rise in militant violence in Pakistan, particularly in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces bordering Afghanistan. The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the police said it carried out the operation in Attock district, which borders Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, to arrest suspected militants who were planning attacks in various parts of Punjab.

"In the ensuing exchange of fire, five terrorists belonging to Fitna Al-Khawarij were killed," a CTD spokesperson said in a statement. "The terrorists had...