Nine suspected militants killed in Mastung

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–CTD says four security officials injured in search operation

 

QUETTA: At least nine suspected militants were killed while four security forces were injured in an operation conducted by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in Balochistan’s Mastung district.

According to media reports, the CTD and other law enforcement agencies raided a suspected militant hideout on an intelligence tip off, resulting in an exchange of fire between the reported militants and the law enforcers.

The counter-terrorism force claimed to have recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the militants’ possession. After the successful completion of the search operation, the dead bodies were shifted to Quetta’s Civil Hospital for identification.

Balochistan —long been plagued by an insurgency and targetted killings – is reeling under a fresh wave of terrorism, as Baloch insurgents and other religious outfits have ratchet up attacks in the restive province, targetting LEAs and minority Shias, respectively.

In May alone, the province faced at least five terror attacks, including an attack on non-native labourers working in Dera Murad Jamali.

On May 9 –the same day a blast had rocked Lahore— three people, including a tribal elder, were killed in Qila Abdullah blast.

On May 10, two miners and three Frontier Corps personnel were killed in an attack and a subsequent landmine blast in the Khost area of Harnai district.

On May 11, militants belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) stormed a five-star hotel in Gwadar, leaving five people, including a navy soldier, dead. The operation to clear the hotel took one day. The attack was targeted at Chinese investors allegedly present at the hotel.

On May 13, at least four policemen were killed and several others wounded after a bomb attack targeted their vehicles while they stood guard outside a mosque in Quetta.

On May 14, three labourers, reportedly from Sindh province, were killed in a targeted attack.  No one claimed responsibility for the attacked.

In April, the province fared no better either, with two major blasts targeting law enforcers and minority Hazara community separately.

On April 12, at least 20 people were killed and 48 wounded by a powerful suicide blast apparently targeting the Hazara community at a crowded fruit market in Quetta.

A faction of the Taliban claimed the attack. The group said it collaborated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), which has been behind numerous bloody attacks in Pakistan. There was no immediate confirmation from LeJ.

On the same day, two civilians were killed and 10 injured in the evening as an improvised explosive device (IED) had gone off when FC vehicle was passing through a market.

On April 18, at least 14 people were killed in an ambush on several buses travelling between Karachi and Gwadar in the remote Ormara area of Balochistan province on Thursday.

The attack which left at least 9 Pakistan Navy men dead after being identified through IDs was claimed by Baloch insurgents.