Targeted operation: Rangers kill four ‘BLA militants’

Officials claim the suspects were also affiliated with Lyari's Uzair Baloch group.

KARACHI: For the first time since the ongoing targeted operation began, the law enforcement agencies claimed to have killed militants belonging to a Baloch nationalist group on Saturday afternoon. The slain suspects were also allegedly affiliated with a Lyari-based gang.

According to Rangers officials, the paramilitary force conducted an intelligence-driven operation in Old Golimar, Pak Colony, against members of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and Lyari-based gangs.

A Rangers spokesperson said that during the operation, the suspects resorted to firing at the Rangers personnel, who retaliated and killed four of them, while also apprehending six others. The bodies were taken to Civil Hospital, Karachi, for autopsies and later to the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth for identification.

The spokesperson, however, stated that the deceased militants were identified as Babul Baloch, Chota Sajid, Rafiq and Khalid Mandhi, adding that they were involved in anti-state activities with the BLA as well as targeted killings, extortion and kidnappings. He claimed that weapons and a large quantity of narcotics were also seized from them.

The slain militants were said to be affiliated with Lyari's Uzair Baloch group. "They were linked with Lyari gangs as well as various nationalist groups from Balochistan, including the BLA, the Baloch National Movement and the Baloch Yakjahti Committee," claimed a Rangers official, adding that the paramilitary force raided their hideout and collected evidence such as literature. The hideout has been sealed and the police have been deployed there.

Lyari's gangs have been accused of having the support of the BLA and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) several times in the past, particularly by slain SP Chaudhry Aslam Khan, who first made this accusation during the nine-day operation in Lyari in April 2012. No concrete evidence was, however, shown by any official regarding these claims.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2015.