QUETTA: Twelve suspected militants, two among them Taliban ‘commanders’, were captured during a raid conducted by security forces in Kuchlak late on Thursday night, official sources said.

They said that a contingent of Frontier Corps accompanied by intelligence personnel on a tip off about the presence of militants belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan raided a house and arrested “12 members of the TTP”.

“Those arrested include two commanders of the TTP,” a security official said. They were shifted to an interrogation centre.

Also read: Security forces arrest five suspected TTP militants in Balochistan

Arms and ammunition and suicide jackets were found at the house and seized.

Earlier this week, security forces had captured around 12 suspected militants from Kuchlak area, located on the road between Quetta and other parts of Pushtun-speaking Balochistan like Chaman, which borders Afghanistan, and Zhob, that is adjacent to Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and leads to North and South Waziristan via Bannu.

After the Peshawar school massacre, security forces have launched a crackdown against members of the TTP and other proscribed militant organisations involved in attacks on soldiers and other subversive activities.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2014