The counter-terrorism department (CTD) during an operation in Mastung district on Monday killed five suspected militants belonging to a banned organisation.
According to a spokesperson, CTD personnel raided a hideout of the militants in the Splinji area of Mastung district, some 40km from here, in the early hours of Monday morning.
He said a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives had been seized.
The spokesperson said that during interrogation of some arrested members of the group, the CTD officials received information that some other militants were at the hideout in Mastung district and that they were planning a major terrorist attack in Quetta.
Acting promptly after receiving information about the presence of the militants, the CTD personnel surrounded the hideout and ordered the militants to surrender. But the militants opened fire on the CTD personnel from inside the hideout. An exchange of fire between the CTD personnel and the militants continued for some time before five of the militants were killed and some others managed to escape taking the advantage of darkness.
According to the spokesperson, the slain militants have been identified as Shah Nazar, Arif Marri, Yousuf Marri, Samiullah Pirkani and Jamil Ahmad Pirkani.
“All the five men belonged to the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and they were involved in the killing of several innocent people in Balochistan,” he said.
He added that the militants were involved in a number of terrorist attacks, including a grenade attack on labourers on Samungli Road, a bomb attack on Azad Khan Marri in Hazarganji and a grenade attack on security forces in Quetta.
The weapons found in the hideout included three Kalashnikovs with 100 rounds of ammunition, 10kg of explosives, three detonators, two explosive rods, two grenades, a remote control device and 13 batteries.
The spokesperson claimed that the CTD personnel also found information from the hideout about some other members of the group hiding in Quetta. An operation would soon be conducted to arrest them, he added.
