Four FC troops martyred in IED attack

Four paramilitary troops, including a junior officer, were martyred in a roadside bomb attack in a restive region of Balochistan, the military said on Monday.

“Terrorists targeted Frontier Corps troops employed for security of Marget mines on Marget-Quetta road using an improvised explosive device,” the military’s media wing said in a statement.

“Resultantly, 4 brave soldiers, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of FC Balochistan embraced Shahadat,” the ISPR added.

It identified the martyrs as Subedar Sardar Ali Khan, resident of village Wanda Lungar Kel, district Lakki Marwat; Sepoy Musaddaf Hussain, resident of Chak 272 EB, district Vehari; Sepoy Muhammad Anwar, resident of Wanda Talgi, district DI Khan; and Sepoy Awais Khan, resident of village Bandal, district Neelum, AJK.

Soon after the deadly IED attack, the paramilitary FC mounted a large scale sanitisation operation to hunt for the terrorists.

Read Terrorists will never be allowed to disturb hard-earned peace: Gen Qamar

“Such cowardly acts backed by inimical elements cannot sabotage the hard-earned peace and prosperity in Balochistan,” the ISPR said. “Security forces are determined to neutralise their nefarious designs even at the cost of blood and lives,” it added.

Balochistan has seen an uptick in terrorist violence since the US initiated its troop pullout from Afghanistan and the Taliban made quick gains in their fight against the Afghan forces.

According to a report in Afghanistan’s ToloNews, nearly two dozen Afghan districts have fallen to the Taliban in a matter of few weeks.

Pakistani officials have frequently said that a nexus of hostile spy agencies – India’s RAW and Afghanistan’s NDS in particular – are responsible for unrest in Balochistan. The arrest of Indian navy commander Kulbhushan Jadhav lent further credence to this belief.

Jadhav admitted in his confessional video statement that RAW was stoking terrorism in Pakistan, especially in Balochistan and Karachi, by bankrolling, arming and training terrorists.