QUETTA: Dozens of militants armed with guns and rockets stormed the Mastung town in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, a government spokesman and health officials said on Tuesday, with a teenager killed and 11 others injured in the attack.
The militants stormed a bank, tehsil and other offices, Balochistan government spokesman Shahid Rind said, adding that gunfire by militants killed a 16-year-old boy and injured seven others.
Dr. Saeed Meerwani, medical superintendent of Mastung District Headquarters Hospital, told one body and three injured were brought to the hospital, while Arbab Awais Kasi, a spokesman for Nawab Ghous Bukhsh Raisani Hospital, said the facility treated and discharged eight injured persons.
“FC [Frontier Corps paramilitary], CTD [Counter-Terrorism Department] and Levies [paramilitary] surrounded the area and the militants retreated,” Rind said in a statement.
“Two terrorists were killed and three were injured in the exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists.”
Rind said the attack was carried out by “Fitna Al-Hindustan,” a reference to alleged Indian-backed Baloch separatist groups in the region. New Delhi denies supporting militancy in Pakistan.
Balochistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists seeking independence from the central government. The province is also home to militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban and the Daesh (Islamic State) group.
“The swift response by security forces helped prevent further loss of lives,” Rind said. “A full-scale operation is underway against the terrorists present in the area.”
He said security agencies have also started searching for the facilitators of the attackers.
In recent months, the separatists have mounted their attacks against the government and security forces in Balochistan, where the military has a huge presence in and has long run intelligence-based operations against groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
In March, the BLA separatist hijacked a train with hundreds of passengers aboard near Balochistan’s Bolan Pass, which resulted in the deaths of 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers. At least 33 insurgents were also killed.
More than 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of coordinated assaults in the province that were claimed by the BLA.
