Islamabad, 2 Feb: At least 24 militants were killed in the past three days during security operations in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, the army said on Friday.
According to a Pakistan Army statement, in the aftermath of last week’s terrorist attack at Mach and Kolpur security complexes in the province, the forces launched sanitisation and clearance operations to hunt down the perpetrators of the assault.
“During the firefights and sanitisation/clearance operations in the last three days, twenty-four terrorists have been sent to hell,” the army said.
Some of the killed terrorists included the most wanted militants. The identification process of remaining terrorists was in process, it said.
However, four members of the law enforcement agencies and two civilians were killed during the operations, it said.
On Thursday, the restive Balochistan province was rattled with at least 10 bomb and grenade attacks, killing at least one person and injuring six persons, including a police officer and a jail warden.
Since last year, the number of attacks on security forces and installations and civilians has increased manifold in Balochistan which is considered a haven for militants belonging to extremist Islamic groups and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The Pakistan government has complained regularly to Iran and Afghanistan, with which it shares a border, to rein in the militants belonging to the TTP and other splinter groups who cross the border and carry out strikes in Balochistan.
Pakistan and Iran’s relations nosedived last month when Iran violated Pakistani airspace to attack what they claimed were terrorist hideouts in Balochistan. Pakistan responded with swift airstrikes in the Siestan-Balochistan area in Iran against armed groups. PTI