Security forces kill 4 terrorists in Mastung operation: state media

Security forces have killed four more terrorists during an operation in the Khad Kocha area of Balochistan’s Mastung district, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Friday, citing security sources.

The report said the terrorists belonged to Fitna-al-Hindustan, a term that the state uses for Balochistan-based groups to highlight India’s alleged role in terrorism and destabilisation across Pakistan.

Radio Pakistan quoted security sources as saying that large quantities of weapons and ammunition were recovered from the slain terrorists while several others, suspected of involvement in facilitating terrorism, were apprehended.

The sources further said that search and clearance operations are ongoing in the area while security forces continue to maintain comprehensive surveillance, according to Radio Pakistan.

On Thursday, security sources said that six terrorists were killed in a security operation in the Khud Kocha during an operation launched on the basis of credible intelligence. The sources added that several individuals, including women suicide bombers and their facilitators, were arrested during the action while several terrorist hideouts were also destroyed.

Security officials said the Balochistan Home Department had imposed a curfew in the Khud Kocha area on Wednesday night to facilitate the operation.

The indefinite curfew was imposed after three people were killed and five others injured in a gun attack on a Karachi-bound passenger bus, and a bridge on the National Highway was damaged in an explosion in the area.

These attacks take place as Balochistan continues to face security challenges.

Before the curfew was imposed on Wednesday, the military’s media affairs wing said in a statement in the afternoon that security forces had killed 10 terrorists and apprehended two female suicide bombers, along with their facilitator, during operations in Balochistan’s Surab and Mastung districts over the past 48 hours.

Earlier this month, security forces and law enforcement personnel jointly launched Operation Shaban in Balochistan in retaliation for a deadly attack on a police post at the Mangi Dam pumping station in Ziarat on July 6. During that assault, armed attackers kidnapped and killed 27 police officers.

A monthly security assessment released in early June by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) said that after two consecutive months of improvement, Pakistan’s security situation deteriorated sharply in May, driven primarily by escalating terrorist violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The report said Balochistan emerged as the most affected province during the month. The province recorded 71 terrorist attacks, compared with 34 in April, representing a 109pc increase.

The deteriorating security situation was further reflected in a surge in kidnappings, it said. Of the 54 abductions reported nationwide during May, 52 occurred in Balochistan alone, highlighting the growing operational reach and confidence of terrorist groups in the province, it said.

On July 9, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the country’s civil and military leadership had taken a “mutual and singular decision” to end terrorism after multiple major terrorist incidents in Balochistan.

He made the remarks at a meeting in Quetta of the Provincial Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, with Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir also present.

PM Shehbaz’s statement came a day after the military Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry addressed a press conference, pointing the finger squarely at India and Afghanistan for being behind recent attacks in Balochistan.

He specifically mentioned “three major terrorist incidents” in recent days — an armed attack on the outskirts of Quetta on July 5, an assault on a police post in Ziarat on July 6, and an ambush of an army convoy in Bela on July 7.