At least 20 operatives including nine commanders of outlawed outfits were killed in Kalat raids, security officials stated earlier today.
“Security forces, engaged in an extensive operation in the rugged territory, neutralized these low and high profile targets in the last 48 hours,” sources told the media.
On top of eliminating these threats, a sizable stash of arms and explosives was also seized by the Frontier Corps personnel.
Earlier, paramilitary forces killed at least four members of a Baloch insurgent group in the port city of Karachi, officials said.
The incident happened in the impoverished neighbourhood of old Golimar where paramilitary Rangers had launched a targeted operation against the proscribed Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) on an intelligence tip-off.
“The criminals opened indiscriminate fire on the Rangers, prompting the force to fire back which killed four notorious BLA terrorists,” Rangers spokesman Major Sibtain Rizvi told AFP.
He said six insurgents were also arrested during the operation, adding they were all involved in anti-state activities and targeted killings.
The BLA mainly operates in resource-rich Balochistan.
Rebels began their fifth insurgency against the state in 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting.
The incident came days after massacre of 44 minority Shiite Ismaili Muslims in Karachi Wednesday in the first attack officially claimed by the Islamic State group in the country.
Wednesday’s attack was the second-deadliest in Pakistan this year after 62 Shiite Muslims were killed in a suicide bombing in late January.
