ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces killed 15 militants in a joint clearance operation after an overnight attack on a police post in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province left nine police officers dead, a provincial government spokesman said on Tuesday.
The assault targeted a police post in the remote Ziarat district, where militants launched a pre-dawn attack that triggered a gunbattle. The attack marked the latest escalation in militant violence in Balochistan, where separatist insurgents and Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on security forces in recent years.
“A joint clearance operation against militants in Ziarat district has been successfully completed by the security forces, Frontier Corps, Balochistan Police, the Counterterrorism Department, the Special Operations Wing and the Anti-Terrorism Force (ATF) during which 15 terrorists were killed,” Shahid Rind, the provincial administration’s spokesperson, told Arab News over the phone.
He said nine police officers were killed in the attack, including the station house officers (SHOs) of the Mangi and Kawas police stations.
Rind informed that eight police officers who had been abducted during the assault had safely reached the Kach police station, while another constable had also been rescued.
