QUETTA: Armed men attacked a police checkpoint in Turbat and took three constables hostage after relieving them of their official weapons, officials said on Wednesday.

The armed men reached the Singani Sarmomin police checkpoint and took the cops, identified as Naeem, Nadeem and Sameer, at gunpoint. The attackers also snatched two sub-machine guns and magazines from the policemen.

Soon after receiving information about the incident, police and security personnel rushed to the site and launched a search operation. No arrest was reported until Wednesday midnight.

Official weapons snatched in ambush; ISPR says eight militants killed in Tank operation

‘High alert’

In Quetta, security forces arrested a man who forcibly entered the cantonment area late on Wednesday evening without stopping at the entry checkpoint and proving his identity, officials said.

They said the suspect, identified as Essa Khan, drove a Suzuki Bolan (bearing the plate number BLB-387) into the Quetta cantonment area without stopping for identification at the security post at one of the entry points. Immediately afterwards, security was put on high alert and all entry points of the cantonment were closed, officials said.

Security forces chased the vehicle, intercepted him near a dairy farm in the Gulistan Road area and arrested the driver. He was later handed over to authorities for investigation.

Seven ‘militants’ killed in Tank operation

Earlier on the Tuesday-Wednesday might, seven militants were killed in an intelligence-based operation in the Kirri Machan Khel area of Tank district, the military’s media wing stated.

The operation was conducted on a tip-off about the presence of militants in the area, the ISPR said, adding that the militants’ hideouts were busted and seven militants were killed in an ensuing exchange of fire between troops and militants. Weapons and ammunition were recovered from the dead.

The militants were actively involved in the targeted killing of police officials in Tank and surrounding areas, the ISPR stated.

It added sanitisation operation was being carried out to eliminate any other militants found in the area.

Muhammad Irfan Mughal in Dera Ismail Khan also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2023