Two killed in forces’ operation

Islamabad: Security forces have killed two alleged terrorists in Balochistan province in anti-terror operations, the military said on Friday. An army statement said that the forces also recovered weapons and ammunition in different areas of Balochistan. The intelligence-based operation (IBOs) was part of the major offensive “Radd ul Fasaad”, the statement from the army’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations said. The major operation was launched in 2017 to “eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country,” which mainly targets sleeping cells of the militants, their supporters and financiers. Giving details of the latest operations, the military said that the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Balochistan conducted the IBOs on suspected terrorist hideouts in Kalat, Kharan and Maiwand areas of Balochistan.  “During Operations 2 terrorists killed. Weapons and ammunition including sub machine guns, improvised explosive devices, grenades, mines, RPG-7 rockets and communication equipment recovered. The operation was conducted days after a group of armed men tried to storm a residential and administration compound of security forces in Balochistan’s Loralai district. Four soldiers were martyred during an exchange of fire with terrorists. Four terrorists were also killed in the clearance operation, according to the army. The banned Pakistani Taliban group had claimed responsibility for the Loralai, which security officials say operate from the Afghan side of the border. Last month a bomber targeted members of a Baloch insurgent group in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar, and killed Baloch insurgent leader, Aslam Baloch, along with five associates. Pakistani authorities had blamed Aslam Baloch, a leader of the banned Baloch Liberation Army, for planning attack on the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi in December last year. Also in December, six security personnel were martyred and 14 others injured in a gun attack on a convoy of the Frontier Corps in Kech district in Balochistan.