QUETTA: Four civilians and a policeman were killed in in two days of violence across Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province while security forces killed five militants, officials said on Wednesday.
A latest clash between security forces and militants took place overnight on Sept. 14–15 when Pakistani security forces carried out an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district, killing five militants.
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has long been plagued by a separatist insurgency and militant violence. Armed groups regularly target security forces, infrastructure and foreign-backed projects, deterring much-needed investment.
“During the conduct of operation, own forces effectively engaged the terrorists’ location and after an intense fire exchange, five Indian sponsored terrorists were sent to hell,” the military’s media wing, ISPR, said in a statement.
Pakistan frequently blames neighboring India and Afghanistan for sponsoring militant groups on its soil, accusations both New Delhi and Kabul deny.
ISPR said weapons, ammunition and explosives were recovered from the militants, who it alleged were involved in “numerous terrorist activities in the area.”
A sanitization operation was continuing to clear remaining fighters.
Also on Wednesday, four civilians, including a woman and two children, were killed in three land mine blasts in Dera Bugti district, Levies officials said.
“Four people, including a woman and two minor children were killed in three land mine blasts and two were injured,” Nadir Ali, a senior Levies officer, told Arab News.
He said the victims were agricultural workers cultivating crops in Lanju Saghari, a border area between thhe Balochistan and Sindh provinces, when one of them stepped on a buried land mine.
The injured and the dead were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Dera Bugti.
Violence had already flared a day earlier in Sherani district, where militants stormed a joint Levies and police post late Tuesday, killing a policeman and injuring two Levies personnel.
“Levies and police personnel retaliated, engaging the militants in a fierce gunbattle,” Deputy Commissioner Hazrat Wali Kakar told Arab News.
“One police official, Aftab Ur Rehman, was killed in the attack and two Levies personnel, Kalu Khan and Abdul Wahid, were injured,” he said, adding that one Levies officer remained missing as of Wednesday.
The attackers torched a Levies vehicle and destroyed disaster relief stocks at the compound before fleeing.
Also on Tuesday, unidentified gunmen intercepted two armored vehicles transporting over Rs220 million ($770,000) for private banks from Turbat to Gwadar, senior Levies officer Ilahi Bukhsh said. Six security guards were disarmed before the assailants fled with the cash.
No group has claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.
The fresh unrest follows an explosion two days earlier that had left five security personnel dead in Balochistan’s Kech.
