GWADAR: Five suspected militants were killed and two security officials suffered injuries in a fierce gun battle in the Mand area of Kech district on Thursday.

Official sources said that the personnel of the Frontier Corps and an intelligence agency, acting on a tip-off about the presence of suspected militants, launched a search operation in Gowak, a town near the Pakistan-Iran border.

They said that the militants opened fire on the security forces, causing injuries to two soldiers of the FC. The security forces cordoned off the area and returned fire.

“Five members of a banned militant organisation were killed in the exchange of fire that lasted an hour,” Turbat Deputy Commissioner retired Capt Sarmad Saleem said.

A spokesman for the FC, Balochistan, said that four kilogrammes of explosives, AK-47 rifles and pistols were found in the hideout of the militants.

The slain militants were involved in attacks on security forces, bomb blasts, targeted killings and other subversive activities, he said.

The bodies were shifted to hospital where the deceased were identified as Master Baitullah Mehmood and his son Ahmedullah, resident of Dazan, Mohammad Asif of Khanak, Mohammad Jasam of Gomazi and Mohammad Noroz of Mand.

The injured soldiers were shifted to Turbat by helicopter.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2017