ISLAMABAD: Police on Saturday killed nine suspected militants as they destroyed their camp in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, a provincial counter-terrorism department (CTD) spokesman said.
Balochistan, the largest in terms of land area and the most impoverished province of Pakistan, has long been marred by a separatist insurgency and sectarian divides that have claimed hundreds of lives.
The militant camp, run by the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, was destroyed in an intelligence-based operation on Roshi mountains in Spilingi area of Mastung district, according to the CTD.
The suspects were asked to surrender after a CTD team surrounded the camp, but they opened indiscriminate gunfire. In the ensuing shootout, nine suspected militants were killed.
“An IBO was conducted on a source information that terrorists of BLA were present in a camp around general area of Roshi Mountains,” the CTD spokesman said in a statement.
“This camp was being used as an epicenter and launching pad of BLA in many recent terrorist acts in Balochistan including Quetta.”
The spokesman said the camp was also being used to provide sanctuary to terrorists of other militant outfits, hailing the operation as a “huge success.”
The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) have been engaged in a low-level insurgency for nearly two decades, calling for independence for the gas- and mineral-rich province.
Daesh militants also have a footprint in the region and have been involved in attacks on ethnic Hazara Shiites.
Counter-terrorism authorities and security forces often engage militants and such shootouts have become a routine occurrence in the province. But the claims are difficult to verify independently.
