Six killed in Dera Bugti offensive

Armed with sophisticated weapons, alleged militants opened fire on the military force

QUETTA:

Frontier Corps (FC) officials’ offensive against militants continued in Dera Bugti for the second consecutive day on Thursday. A day earlier the auxiliary military force had reportedly killed eight militants in the town.

“At least six militants were killed on Thursday after gunfights with the FC in the Deranjan Nallah and Rustam Darbar areas of Dera Bugti,” said a spokesperson for the force. He said that acting on a tip-off, the security forces raided the hideouts of the banned Baloch Republican Army (BRA).

Armed with sophisticated weapons, the alleged militants opened fire on the military force. The exchange of fire lasted for hours.

The FC killed six BRA militants and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition, explosives and detonators, added the spokesperson. “These militants were involved in deadly attacks on the security forces, as well as blowing up of electricity pylons, gas pipelines and railway tracks.”

FC Balochistan Inspector-General Maj-Gen Sher Afgun congratulated the force on their successful raids.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2015.