ISLAMABAD: Two Pakistani soldiers lost their lives and an officer was injured in an exchange of fire with militants in Khost, a small town in southwestern Balochistan province, an official statement released by the military’s media wing, ISPR, said on Sunday.
The sparsely populated province of Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has witnessed low-intensity insurgency for decades.
The government has launched full-scale military operations and carried out targeted interventions in the past to quell the separatist violence.
According to the ISPR, the latest incident took place in the early hours of Sunday after a group of militants raided a security post in the region.
“Having successfully repulsed the distant fire raid, the escaping terrorists were pursued into the nearby mountains,” the official statement said. “As a follow up, during an encircling effort to cut off fleeing terrorists, a heavy exchange of fire took place between [the] terrorists and a security forces' patrol as well. During the skirmish, two valiant sons of soil, Naik Atif and Sepoy Qayyum embraced Shahadat [martyrdom] besides Major Umer who got injured while causing losses to the terrorists.”
The ISPR maintained the security forces were determined to thwart any attempt to sabotage peace, stability and progress of Balochistan.
Earlier this month, an army aviation helicopter, with a top military commander, crashed in the province.
Hours after its wreckage was found, Baloch separatists said they had shot down the helicopter, though they could not provide any evidence to substantiate the claim.
A senior military official dismissed their statement as propaganda, saying the helicopter had crashed due to bad weather.
