QUETTA: Three suspected militants were killed in a gunbattle with security forces during a combing operation in the Sariab area on Friday night.

Official sources said that security forces moved into Hazar Ganji locality of Sariab on a tip-off about the presence of militants there. They were conducting a search operation when armed men holed up in a house opened fire, leaving two FC soldiers injured.

Security forces returned fire and the shootout continued for two hours in which three suspected militants were killed.

An FC spokesman said on Saturday that the combing operation was continuing in Quetta and other areas of the province on the orders of the Chief of Army Staff.

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti confirmed the encounter and said that the militants killed belonged to the banned Baloch Liberation Army.

He said that security at all important points and public places had been beefed up.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2016