QUETTA: Security forces on Sunday said they had killed around a dozen Islamic State militants in a three-day raid prompted by intelligence reports that the group was holding two recently kidnapped Chinese nationals.
The operation took place in the rugged Mastung district of southwest Balochistan province and targeted the hideout cave of a group of IS commanders, a senior security official told AFP.
“Some 12-13 IS commanders have been killed after intense gun-battles and the area was cleared late Saturday,” he said, but added that the Chinese pair were not recovered from the scene despite the presence of the vehicle used in their kidnapping nearby.
IS has been making inroads in the country through alliances with local militant outfits such as the sectarian Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar groups, though its presence is generally downplayed by the government. Security forces also seized six suicide jackets, a cache of ammunition, explosives, detonators, solar panels and food rations, a second security official told AFP, adding the cave was a base used by IS to plan attacks across the country.
The two Chinese workers were abducted last month in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, raising safety concerns for Beijing’s multi-billion-dollar investments in the country.
One Chinese woman managed to escape as the men began firing in the air to scare off onlookers. A passer-by, Zahir, was shot as he tried to prevent the abduction.
Earlier in the month, about 28 people were killed in a suicide attack on the convoy of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Mastung.
The Saturday night operation was kept highly classified, according to a military source, to prevent any leakage of information.
The Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the military, did not immediately comment on the reports about the operation.
The level of the IS leadership claimed to have been taken out indicates that it could be the biggest operation against the militant outfit since Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader Malik Ishaq was killed along with his associates in Punjab in 2015, who were then said to be close to joining the IS.
Security sources say elimination of top leadership would serve a major blow to the IS in Pakistan.
Officially the government denies presence of the militant organisation in the country.
A security source said the terrain of the area was very difficult and the troops had to physically go there because there was no option.
Mineral-rich Balochistan has been plagued by insurgencies since 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting.
But a greater push towards peace and development by authorities has reduced overall levels of violence in recent years.
