QUETTA: A man blew himself up and another was gunned down in fighting with security forces during a search operation against suspected members of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Gawal Ismailzai area of Zhob district on Saturday, sources said.

The sources said that security forces had moved into the area, close to the Subakzai dam, following a tip-off about the presence of TTP members there.

During the subsequent search operation, suspected TTP militants began firing on the Frontier Corps (FC) troops. A gunfight between the two sides continued for about two hours, the sources said.

“A militant wearing a vest filled with explosives blew himself up when security personnel were cordoning off the area. An armed man was killed in the heavy exchange of fire between the two sides,” Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani said, adding that a huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered in the operation.

According to an FC spokesman, 400kg of explosives, 50 suicide vests, 70 improvised explosive devices, three rocket-launchers, 10 AK-47 rifles, 20 pistols, 30,000 rounds of different weapons and a motorcycle were taken into custody from the TTP hideout.

“Security personnel destroyed a huge quantity of explosives found at the site for security reasons,” the spokesman said.

The sources said the TTP hideout had been damaged badly when the suicide bomber had detonated his explosives. They said two suspects were taken into custody.

However, the FC sources did not confirm the arrests.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2014