ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces have killed more than 70 militants in a series of intelligence-based operations across the southwestern Balochistan province this week, the military said on Sunday, as authorities stepped up efforts to curb a militancy in the mineral-rich region.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the site of a decades-long separatist insurgency and has witnessed an uptick in attacks by separatist and religiously motivated militant groups.

Pakistani security forces killed 11 militants in Balochistan’s Nushki district, while six others were killed in Mand, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.

Separately, security personnel had conducted intelligence-based operations in Balochistan’s Quetta and Ziarat districts as part of Operation Shaban, killing 33 militants since September 21.

“More than 71 terrorists have been killed so far in Operation Shaban and [in] other areas of Balochistan in last 96 hours, delivering a serious blow to Indian-backed Afghan proxies,” the ISPR said in a statement.

“Security Forces have cleared a vast area and relieved local communities of the threat posed by Fitna Al-Khawarij (Pakistani Taliban) and Fitna Al-Hindustan (Baloch separatist militants).”

There was no immediate response from New Delhi or Kabul to the Pakistani military’s statement, which followed heightened tensions and military exchanges between Pakistan and Afghanistan over militant attacks in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces that border Afghanistan.

Islamabad has frequently accused India of supporting and Afghanistan of providing safe havens to militants who carry out attacks in KP and Balochistan province. New Delhi and Kabul have consistently denied this.

In July this year, TTP and Baloch separatist groups launched coordinated assaults in the southwestern province that killed dozens, including 27 policemen, in Balochistan’s Ziarat and Quetta districts. Pakistani forces have since carried out multiple operations in the region.

On Saturday, at least eight suspected militants and one member of the tribal peace force were killed in Balochistan after dozens of armed militants attacked the residence of a local administration official and tribal leader in the Dera Bugti district, an official said on Sunday.