Targeted operation: Two BLA men killed in Mastung raid

Baloch National Front announces three-day strike to protest the operation.

A file photo of Frontier Corps personnel. PHOTO: ONLINE/ FILE

QUETTA:


Two suspected members of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) were killed and as many injured in a targeted operation by the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Mastung district of Balochistan.


Acting on a tip-off, paramilitary troops raided Killi Pirkani area on Friday, FC sources said, adding that suspected BLA militants holed up in the area opened fire on the troops.  In the retaliatory fire, two BLA insurgents – including their commander Rasheed Shahwani – were killed.

Two BLA members were also arrested during the raid. The firefight lasted for more than two hours.


The dead BLA members were nominated in several murder cases, including the killing of Mastung Cadet College principal, according to a press release issued by the FC. A huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from the hideout.

The Baloch National Front has announced a three-day shutter-down strike to protest the operation. Other nationalist parties of the province said the raid was in violation of the Constitution.

Separately, the FC arrested 10 suspects in a search operation in the Sariab Road neighbourhood of Quetta. Paramilitary troops also recovered explosives during a separate search operation in Pashtoonabad, a settlement of illegal Afghan refugees in Quetta.

In ongoing violence, a lecturer of the Kharan Degree College and his son were gunned down in Kharan district. Gunmen entered a school and shot dead Ikram Mengal and his son.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2013.
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