QUETTA: Four security personnel were martyred and four others injured while trying to prevent militants from entering a compound inside a training centre of the Frontier Corps (FC) in the cantonment area of Balochistan’s Loralai district on Tuesday. Four attackers, including a suicide bomber, were also killed in the clash.

According to official sources, the target of the heavily armed attackers seemed to be the FC training centre adjacent to which many offices and residential compounds of security forces are located.

Four attackers killed in Loralai clash

The attackers were challenged by the personnel at the entry point of the compound, said a press release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in Rawalpindi.

The sources said that after failing to enter the compound the attackers barged into another compound adjacent to a checkpost and opened fire on security personnel from there. The personnel cordoned off the compound and returned fire.

“The valiant and timely action of the security forces denied the terrorists entry into the residential area which would have resulted in more casualties,” the ISPR said.

The sources said the suicide bomber blew himself up when the security personnel ensured the attackers had no chance to escape.

The ISPR said all the four personnel were martyred in the initial exchange of fire.

The martyred personnel were identified as Subedar Major Munawar Hussain, Havaldar Iqbal Khan, Havaldar Bilal and Sepoy Naqshab.

The injured personnel were Havaldar Mohammad Amjad, DMT Wajid, DMT Abdul Rasheed and FC soldier Shahbaz. Two of them are said to be in a critical condition.

The sources said the exchange of fire between the personnel and the attackers began early in the morning and continued till afternoon.

They said soon after the attack, personnel of the Special Services Group of the army reached Loralai and conducted a search operation with the help of military helicopters in the area.

A resident of Loralai town, Mohammad Usman, told Dawn on telephone that after many gunshots he heard a loud explosion.

Meanwhile, funeral prayers for all the four martyred personnel were offered at the town’s Artillery Ground.

Later, bodies of the martyred personnel were sent to their native areas for burial.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2019