ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces killed two militants in an intelligence-based operation in the southwestern Balochistan province, the Pakistani military said on Friday.
The operation was conducted in Mazaband Range area of Balochistan’s Kech district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
It left another militant injured, while security personnel also seized a sizeable cache of arms and ammunition from the scene.
“The killed terrorists were involved in targeting of innocent civilians and law enforcement agencies,” the ISPR said in a statement.
Balochistan, which shares a porous border with Iran and Afghanistan, has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baloch nationalists for around two decades. The separatists say they are fighting what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s wealth by the federation. The Pakistani state denies it.
Pakistan has long accused neighboring countries and hostile agencies for harboring Baloch separatist fighters and other armed groups that operate in the Balochistan province.
The Pakistani government in July expressed serious concerns over militant “save havens” in Afghanistan after nine Pakistani soldiers were killed in an attack on a garrison in Balochistan.
