QUETTA: At least 13 people, including six Pakistan Army troops and an equal number of suspected attackers, were killed during a night-long battle after a group of militants stormed a military compound in Balochistan and held families hostage, the military said on Saturday.
The heavily armed militants stormed a compound of Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force, in the Muslim Bagh town of Qila Saifullah district on Friday evening, and held three families hostage in a residential block, said a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
“The clearance operation at FC Compound Muslim Bagh in Northern Balochistan, which had commenced on the evening of May 12 after repulsing initial onslaught of terrorists, has been completed in the morning of May 13,” the statement added.
“In the process of clearance operation, seven sons of the soil including a civilian have embraced shahadat (martyrdom) while another six individuals, including a woman, have been injured,” it added.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the latest in a string of similar incidents across the country, claimed by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an Afghanistan-based conglomerate of various militant groups active in the country.
The prime minister, in a statement, expressed his “deep grief and sorrow” over the “tragic” event. Radio Pakistan quoted him as saying that he commiserates with the bereaved families and prays for the higher ranks of the dead.
Furthermore, Shehbaz Sharif directed to provide the injured with the best possible medical treatment and prayed for their early recovery. He said the army was fully determined to completely eradicate the menace of terrorism and added the entire nation stands by the security forces.
The large province, which is also considered to cover parts of neighbouring Iran and Afghanistan, is strategically important due to its rich copper, zinc, and natural gas reserves.
The province is also a key route of the $64 billion mega project Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (CPEC), which aims to connect China’s strategically important northwestern Xinxiang province to Gwadar port through a network of roads, railways, and pipelines for cargo, oil, and gas transportation.
— With input from Anadolu Agency
