Two Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in Balochsitan’s Kohlu area, the military’s media wing said on Friday.

“Based on credible intelligence, a sanitisation operation was initiated on Feb 10 in the Kohlu area of Balochistan to deny terrorists any liberty of action,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

During the ensuing sanitisation of the area, the ISPR said, an IED exploded close to the leading party.

“Resultantly, two officers — identified as Major Jawad and Captain Sagheer — embraced martyrdom and laid their lives in defence of the motherland against an externally perpetrated threat.”

The ISPR said that a sanitisation operation is under way in the area to apprehend perpetrators and enemies of peace.

“Such cowardly acts by inimical elements cannot sabotage the hard-earned peace and prosperity in Balochistan. Security Forces are determined to neutralise their nefarious designs even at the cost of blood and lives,” the statement concluded.

Earlier, the medical superintendent of the District Healthquarter Hospital (DHQ) Kohlu told Dawn.com that an emergency had been imposed at the medical facility.

All the medical staff, doctors and paramedics have been alerted, he added.

Today’s attack in Balochistan was the latest in a series of terrorist attacks which spiked since the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) rescinded the ceasefire with the government in 2021.

According to a report, January was the deadliest month since 2018, in which 134 people lost their lives — a 139 per cent spike — and 254 received injuries in at least 44 militant attacks across the country.

Last week, a Coast guard was martyred and seven others were injured in a landmine explosion and subsequent ambush by armed militants in the Jiwani area of Gwadar district.

On Feb 6, seven people were injured in two terrorist attacks in Quetta.

Five people, including an office-bearer of the Civil Secretariat Staff Association, suffered injuries in the first attack. The outlawed TTP later had claimed responsibility for the blast, saying that it was a suicide bombing.

In the second attack, a woman and her child were injured when unknown persons riding motorcycles hurled a grenade into the house of Nazeer Ahmed on Mano Jan Road. The grenade exploded in the courtyard.