QUETTA, Nov 23: Reports of heavy fighting between security forces and militants were received from Karmo Wadh and Tartani areas of the troubled Kohlu district on Thursday.

Sources said that security forces, reacting after an attack, launched an operation against hideouts of militants in a vast area and chased the assailants in the mountains. They also used helicopter gunships in the chase.

According to reports reaching here, fighting erupted in the area when militants attacked a vehicle of security personnel in the Tartani area and fired rockets on a post in Karmo Wadh area of Kahan tehsil.

The sources said that militants hiding in mountains fired a number of rockets on the vehicle, but it was not hit. Troops present in the area rushed to the place and returned fire. “Exchange of fire continued for more than an hour in Tartani hills,” they said, adding that the armed men later disappeared from the area.

According to another report, militants attacked a security post in Karmo Wadh using rockets and heavy weapons. Security personnel deployed at the post returned fire. A heavy exchange of fire took place for some time.

The sources said that after foiling the attacks in both areas, security forces launched a search operation in Karmo Wadh, Tartani and Pir Koh areas of Kohlu and Dera Bugti districts. Helicopter gunships were seen in the area attacking hideouts of militants in the mountains.

“Security forces chased the attackers in the mountains and hit their hideouts,” the sources said. There have been no reports about casualties in the fighting.

Sources in Sui township said that an armed group attacked labourers and other staff who were working in the under-construction Kachhi canal in Shahbal area of Sui tehsil. They took away two persons and a tractor with them. Security forces rushed to the place, cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.

A caller identifying himself as Azad Baloch and claiming to be spokesman of the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) said that militant attacks in Tartani and Karmo Wadh areas had caused heavy casualties.