QUETTA, June 14: Security forces launched an operation in some areas of tehsil Kahan of Kohlu district on Wednesday. According to reports received here, troops attacked what was described as hideouts of armed tribesmen who were involved in attacks on security forces and in planting landmines in different areas of the district. “The forces used helicopter gunships in the action,” said Nawabzada Balach Marri while talking to Dawn on telephone from Kahan.

He said that reports of heavy shelling were received from Sour-i-Kor, Bhambhor, Tartani and Gaztal areas of Kahan tehsil. He said that four people of the family of one Sabaz Ali, two wives and two children, were killed when a shell fired from a helicopter hit his house in Gaztal area near the district’s border with Dera Bugti.

A member of the Bugti tribe said that security forces had suffered a heavy loss of life in a gunbattle during Tuesday’s operation in Dera Bugti.

Wadera Alam Khan Bugti claimed that at least 13 FC personnel had been killed and many others injured in the fighting. However, official sources denied Wadera Alam Khan’s claims and said that no security personnel had been killed or injured during the operation in Dera Bugti area.”

A senior official reiterated the government’s claim that five militants had been killed and seven injured in the operation.