January 02, 2009	Friday	Muharram 04, 1430

QUETTA, Jan 1: At least three security personnel and 10 militants were killed in a clash near Uch gas field, in Dera Bugti district, on Thursday.

“Three of our soldiers lost their lives and five others were injured in the clash,” Frontier Corps Inspector-General Maj-Gen Saleem Nawaz said.

According to official sources, an FC contingent deployed for protecting gas installations in the field was patrolling between Zain and Gandoai when the vehicles were attacked with automatic weapons.

An exchange of fire lasting several hours saw mortars, rockets and machineguns being used by both sides.

“We have information about the death of 10 militants in the clash,” Maj-Gen Nawaz said.

According to sources, the militants took away the bodies of their colleagues. They said that security officials had intercepted conversations between militants about the casualties.

The sources said the militants escaped after the clash, leaving arms and ammunition in their camp.

“The militants’ camp was destroyed,” the FC official said.

The sources said more FC troops had been sent to the area for hunting down militants in the mountains of Zain Koh and Gandoai.

Earlier, a spokesman for the Baloch Republican Army (BRA), Sarbaz Baloch, said his group would no longer abide by the “ceasefire” in force since Ramazan, threatening to attack security personnel and government installations.

He told newsmen in Dera Allahyar that militants had killed over two dozen security personnel and injured 12 others in Thursday’s attack.

He alleged that security personnel had killed innocent people in retaliation.