new delhi, Jul 27
A remote area in the northwest of Pakistan’s Balochistan province has become ground zero for an operation by the country’s security forces against outlawed insurgent outfits and the banned TTP, with three more terrorists being killed on Monday.
According to figures released by the Inter-Services Public Relations and confirmed by security sources and announcements by the state-run media, cumulatively around 140 terrorists have been killed in different operations so far since July 6 in the Mastung district.
State-run Radio Pakistan said on Monday that security forces had killed three more terrorists.
The terrorists, belonging to insurgent groups and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), were killed under Operation “Shaban” launched by the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps and police.
According to security sources, the decision to expand and expedite the operation came after the insurgents attacked a police compound checkpoint in Ziarat district on July 6, killing nine policemen and abducting 18 young police cadets. Later, the bodies of the 18 police cadets were found in the area. In their operation in Mastung, the security forces have destroyed several hideouts and ammunition dumps of the insurgent groups besides having arrested at least three suspected female suicide bombers with their facilitators. In retaliation, insurgent groups are also carrying out terror activities and continuing guerrilla warfare tactics in the area. On Sunday, the Balochistan Liberation Army said they had abducted two workers of a courier service after attacking their vehicle in the Khad Kocha area and demanded PKR 25 million for their release.
Last Thursday, they attacked a convoy of two district and session judges going from Quetta to Mastung, killing a judge and his gunman, while injuring the other judge and two others.
The incident came a day after three people, including two women, were killed and five injured when insurgents opened fire on a passenger vehicle. The insurgents also blew up a main bridge in the Khad Kocha area, leading to authorities imposing a curfew in the area.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the site of a long-running separatist insurgency that has intensified in recent years.
