ISLAMABAD: The Inter-Services Public Relations has released pictures of 12 terrorists killed during an operation in Mastung.

In a statement on Thurs­day, the ISPR shared the details about the operation.

Five security forces personnel, including two officers, were, meanwhile, injured in the operation.

“The successful operation by security forces besides denying establishing of any direct/indirect ISIS organised infrastructure in Balochistan/Pakistan, also foiled terrorist incidents in Pakistan,” the ISPR said in the statement in which it shared the details about the three-day operation (June 1-3), a week after it began with the landing of heli-borne forces in treacherous mountains.

Consistent with the government policy of not acknowledging IS — also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh — presence in the country, the ISPR tried to downplay reports that Daesh was targeted in the operation saying it was against 10-15 terrorists of banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi Al-Almi (LeJ-A), who had been hiding there. The group, it however said, had been attempting to communicate with the Daesh leadership for establishing its foothold in Balochistan.

But it admitted that the same group was behind the deadly suicide attack on Senate’s Deputy Chairman Abdul Ghafoor Haideri’s convoy last month in which some 27 people were killed. The May 12 attack on Mr Haideri had been claimed by Daesh through its mouthpiece Amaq.

The names of the killed terrorists haven’t been made public yet. The ISPR did not say if someone had been captured alive, although earlier there were reports that Daesh’s chief for Sindh had been caught alive.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2017