A file photo of Frontier Corps personnel. PHOTO: EXPRESS
A proscribed separatist group, Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), had claimed credit for the mass killings at a labourers’ camp in the Gogdan area, a few kilometres away from Turbat city in Kech district shortly before dawn on Saturday.
Subsequently, a manhunt was launched in the barren mountains of Turbat for the killers, but it did not yield anything. On Monday, the paramilitary Frontier Corps conducted raids in different parts of Turbat after the force was tipped off about the presence of militants in the region.
One of the raids conducted in Gogdan, the area where the labourers’ camp was stormed, sparked a gunfight that left 13 militants, including their commander, dead, FC spokesman Khan Wasey told The Express Tribune. Some militants were also wounded in the firefight.
“The raid was carried out by a special wing of the FC and Mekran Scouts with the help of an intelligence agency on the directives of the provincial government,” he added.
The FC spokesperson claimed that the dead militants included perpetrators of the Turbat massacre. He added that BLF commander Zareef was also arrested in the raid that yielded a cache of automatic weapons, including rocket launchers.
Provincial home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani confirmed the militant death toll.
IGFC Maj Gen Sher Afgan hailed the operation and vowed that his force would not rest until the last militant was eliminated from the province where Baloch militants have been fighting a low-profile insurgency since 2004. He added that the militants involved in the grisly massacre of 20 labourers would have to pay a heavy price for their dastardly crime.
Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch is in his hometown of Turbat and personally supervising the operation, a source said.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 14th, 2015.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ