Targeted operation: Four militants killed in Rangers’ raid

Officials claim the militants belong to the Baloch Liberation Army

KARACHI: At least four suspected militants belonging to a Baloch nationalist party were killed after an exchange of fire with law enforcers on Sunday. The deceased militants were allegedly involved in the killings of Chinese nationals in Hub.

The exchange of fire between the law enforcers and the militants took place when the Rangers and police raided their hideout near Ismail Shah Mazar in Memon Goth.

Law enforcers said that the militants opened fire at them when they approached the hideout, adding that, in retaliation, the law enforcers fired back. The Rangers' spokesperson confirmed that during the exchange of fire, three militants were killed while another was arrested in an injured condition. The fourth militant later succumbed to his injuries.

The bodies and the injured militant were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for autopsies. The militants killed were later identified as Zahid, Nasir and Habib alias Fauji, while the militant who died at the hospital was identified as Elahi Buksh alias Guddu.

The Rangers' spokesperson claimed that the militants belonged to the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). "These militants were providing support to the BLA in Karachi," explained the spokesperson. Besides supporting the BLA in Karachi, the militants were also involved in various cases of terrorism and crimes in Karachi and Hub, including a railway track blast near Gharo, the killing of Chinese nationals at the Hub check post in 2010 and 2011, extortion, target killings and kidnapping for ransom. The bodies were shifted to the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth.

Several BLA militants have been killed by law enforcers, particularly by the Rangers, in Karachi during the ongoing targeted operation against terrorists and militants that began on September 5, 2013. Earlier in May 2015, four militants affiliated with the BLA were killed in a search operation conducted by police and the Rangers in Pak Colony, all of whom were also involved in the Lyari gang war.

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