By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Four civilians and a policeman were killed in attacks across southwestern Balochistan province over two days, while security forces killed five militants in a counter-operation, officials said on Wednesday, the latest violence to hit the insurgency-torn region bordering Iran and Afghanistan.
The civilian deaths included a woman and two children killed on Wednesday in three landmine blasts in Dera Bugti district, near the border with Sindh province, Levies officials said. Two others were wounded.
“Four people, including a woman and two minor children were killed in three land mine blasts and two were injured,” Nadir Ali, a senior Levies officer, said.
The victims, agricultural workers cultivating crops in the Lanju Saghari area, were hit when one triggered a buried landmine, Ali said. The dead and injured were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Dera Bugti.
Violence broke out a day earlier in neighbouring Sherani district, where militants stormed a joint Levies and police post late on Tuesday, killing one policeman and wounding two Levies personnel. One Levies officer remained missing as of Wednesday.
“Levies and police personnel retaliated, engaging the militants in a fierce gunbattle,” Deputy Commissioner Hazrat Wali Kakar said. “One police official, Aftab Ur Rehman, was killed in the attack and two Levies personnel, Kalu Khan and Abdul Wahid, were injured.”
The attackers torched a Levies vehicle and destroyed disaster relief stocks at the compound before fleeing.
On the same day, unidentified gunmen ambushed two armoured vehicles carrying more than 220 million rupees ($770,000) for private banks along the route from Turbat to the port city of Gwadar, a senior Levies officer said. The assailants disarmed six security guards before escaping with the cash.
Ilahi Bukhsh, the officer, gave no further details.
No group has claimed responsibility for the checkpoint assault or the cash heist.
In the Khuzdar operation, overnight on Sept. 14-15, troops targeted a militant hideout in the province’s Khuzdar district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) military media wing said in a statement.
The ISPR said security forces conducted the IBO on the night of 14/15 September on the “reported presence of terrorists belonging to Indian proxy Fitna al Hindustan”. “During the conduct of operation, own forces effectively engaged the terrorists’ location, and after an intense fire exchange, five Indian sponsored terrorists were sent to hell.”
“Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the terrorists, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area.”
The operation comes after five security personnel, including an officer, were martyred in an explosion in Balochistan’s Kech district on Monday.
“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of Indian sponsored terrorism from the country, and reaffirm the nation’s unwavering resolve to bring the perpetrators of terrorism to justice,” the ISPR added.
Balochistan has been beset by separatist insurgency and militant attacks for years. Armed groups often target security forces, infrastructure and Chinese-backed projects, deterring investment in the gas- and mineral-rich province.
Last month, security forces gunned down 50 terrorists over a four-day operation, foiling an attempt by militants to cross over from Afghanistan into Balochistan.
On September 12, the ISPR said troops had also killed four “Indian-sponsored terrorists” during an IBO in Balochistan’s Mastung. On September 7, two people were seriously injured in Khuzdar’s Naal area when an improvised explosive device was detonated.
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