Pakistani security forces overnight killed 54 militants who attempted to cross into the country from Afghanistan, the military said Sunday, marking one of the deadliest such killings in recent years.

The military said intelligence reports indicated the killed militants were “Khwarij” – a phrase govt uses for Pakistani Taliban.

Without directly blaming anyone, the military said the slain insurgents had been sent by their “foreign masters” to carry out high-profile attacks inside Pakistan.

The insurgents were spotted and killed near the former stronghold of Pakistan Taliban near North Waziristan, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along the Afghan border. “This is the first time during the ongoing operations against terrorists that Pakistani forces killed terrorists in such a high number in a single day,” interior minister Mohsin Naqvi said.