ISLAMABAD: A militant was killed and two of his accomplices were injured in a shootout with security forces in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, the Pakistani military said on Thursday.

The shootout took place during an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Hoshab district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.

“Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from killed terrorist, who remained actively involved in multiple terrorist activities in the area including kidnapping and target killing of innocent civilians,” the ISPR said in a statement.

“Sanitization operation is being conducted to eliminate any other terrorist found in the area.”

The military issued no further details about the injured suspects.

Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan, is the site of a low-level insurgency by separatists, who have recently carried out a number of attacks in the region.

Last week, one Frontier Corps (FC) paramilitary soldier was killed and four others were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the Kech district of Balochistan, according to Insap Baloch, the head of the paramilitary Levies force in the area. The IED attack took place as an FC convoy was passing an area called ‘Gili,’ some 100 kilometers away from Turbat.

In another attack, an official of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) was injured in an explosion that targeted a CTD vehicle in Balochistan’s Pishin district.

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 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.