Security forces killed at least five militants and injured several others during an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Panjgur district on Thursday, according to security sources (Geo News).
The operation was conducted under Operation Radd-ul-Fitna 3.
According to those sources, motorcycle-borne militants were en route to carry out an attack when forces engaged them in the Kali Suran area of Panjgur using what were described as advanced weapons.
What was recovered
Security sources said a significant cache of advanced weapons and ammunition was recovered, along with three vehicles, two motorcycles, an improvised explosive device and the flag of a banned organisation.
The group was said to have been involved in target killings, kidnappings, armed robberies and the planning of suicide attacks.
Attribution
The account above comes from security sources and is reported as such. The claim that the militants were India-sponsored is the sources’ characterisation; no evidence for it has been made public, and this newspaper has not independently verified it. Nor have the identities of those killed been released.
The Inter-Services Public Relations directorate has not issued a separate statement on the Panjgur operation.
Context
The operation is part of a sustained tempo. On August 18, security forces said they had killed more than nine militants in separate intelligence-based operations in Balochistan’s Ziarat, Harnai and Surab districts under the same operation.
On Friday, six people were killed in an explosion at an orchard in Mastung, in a separate incident whose nature has not yet been established.
Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir, speaking to Balochistan’s political leadership on Friday, said that what the military calls Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna al-Hindustan were foreign-sponsored proxies being used to destabilise the province.
