By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed six militants in two separate operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, state media reported on Monday, citing security sources.
Four of the dead belonged to a group that Pakistan’s authorities call Fitna al-Khawarij, the state’s label for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its offshoots. Islamabad describes the group as an Indian-backed proxy. They were killed in an intelligence-based operation in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The sources said security forces monitored the men’s movements closely before moving against them. A large cache of weapons and ammunition was recovered, along with Afghan currency. The operation was carried out under Azm-e-Istehkam, the government’s counter-terrorism framework. Security officials said operations would continue until the networks were dismantled and lasting peace was established.
In Balochistan, two members of the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) were killed in the Nokcha area, according to the same sources. They said the pair set fire to an empty water bowser and tried to flee. Security forces gave chase, and both men died in an exchange of fire.
The sources said the two had been involved in earlier arson attacks at several points along the N-40 Quetta-Taftan highway. Investigators are examining whether the latest incident is linked to previous attacks on the road, particularly those involving burned vehicles. Security has been tightened in Nokcha, and the sources said operations against sabotage and militant activity there are continuing.
The incident came less than a month after security forces said they killed 11 militants on 31 August, when armed men set up an illegal checkpoint on the same highway in Chagai district. The men were trying to disrupt traffic and extort motorists. The military said that night that 21 militants had killed in two operations, in Nokcha and in Ziarat Cross in Pishin district, and that six personnel and a customs official were killed when an attempt to breach the Customs House was thwarted.
A bloody quarter
Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence over the past three months, with attacks across the country killing security personnel and civilians.
The latest was on Saturday, when a suicide bomber attacked a roadside police checkpoint near Aman Mela in the Darazinda area of Dera Ismail Khan, killing at least 12 people and wounding about 30. Most of the casualties were security personnel and passers-by, police said, and an explosives-laden vehicle was reportedly driven into the checkpoint. The TTP claimed responsibility, according to Pakistani reports.
The week before, on Friday 18 September, a blast near a mosque in Kohat’s old Police Lines during Friday prayers was followed by an assault on the compound. The death toll rose to 23, including 17 police personnel and six civilians, with more than 100 injured. Eight attackers were killed in an overnight clearance operation. The Ittihadul Mujahideen Pakistan, led by the Afghanistan-based commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, claimed responsibility.
In a separate clash in Hangu district, six security personnel, including a captain and a lieutenant, were killed and eight militants died.
In Balochistan, security forces killed six militants they said were affiliated with Fitna al-Hindustan in the Saran Tangi area on 22 September, and arrested nine suspects. The military said a further 19 militants were killed in separate operations in the province, in which a 39-year-old subedar, Muhammad Jamil, also died.
In July, at least 30 people, including 27 police personnel, were killed when militants the state identifies as the Indian proxy Fitna al-Hindustan ambushed police in the Kach Mangi Phase III area of Ziarat. The attackers also abducted several civilians and police personnel, and fighting lasted for hours. A joint operation by the army, the Frontier Corps and Balochistan Police is still under way.
Tensions with Kabul
The violence has sharpened Pakistan’s dispute with the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering militants who stage cross-border attacks. Pakistan’s air force struck 10 locations in Afghanistan on Thursday, its second round of strikes in four days after about three months of relative quiet along the border. Islamabad said it was retaliating for drones launched from Afghan territory. Pakistan said its strikes on 21 September killed 28 fighters. The government said fighting along the southwestern border killed at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
