ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces have killed 114 militants across the restive southwestern Balochistan province since July 5 in a joint anti-militancy campaign involving the army, paramilitary forces and police, state media reported on Monday.
“Operation Shaban” was launched after the killing of 38 security personnel and four civilians in three major militant attacks in Balochistan over four days of assaults last week.
The attacks underscore the worsening security situation in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. The province has long faced a separatist insurgency led by the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), while the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has also intensified attacks in the region.
“Since July 5, security forces have killed a total of 114 kharji terrorists in Operation Shaban and other intelligence-based operations,” the APP said in its report. Kharji is a term used by the Pakistani military and government to describe TTP and its militant affiliates.
“The operation will continue till elimination of last terrorist.”
A video posted by state media showed army gunship helicopters patrolling the mountainous areas of Balochistan and engaging targets with firepower.
Pakistan says the BLA and TTP have increasingly exploited safe havens across the Afghan border to launch attacks, an allegation the Taliban administration in Kabul denies. Islamabad also accuses India of supporting militant groups operating inside Pakistan, which New Delhi rejects.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated sharply over the past year as Islamabad has accused Kabul of failing to curb the activities of the TTP. The worsening tensions have led to border closures, exchanges of fire between security forces and Pakistani airstrikes targeting what it calls suspected militant hideouts inside Afghanistan.
