QUETTA, March 14: Security forces claimed on Wednesday to have arrested a key member of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and four of his men after an operation in the Tump area of Kech district.

Sources told Dawn that sophisticated weapons were seized from Wahid Bakhsh alias Qambar, the BLA commander in the area.

Faiz, Fazal Karim, Dilip and Hamid were the other four arrested after an exchange of fire near their camp in Hazban hills, 640km southwest of Quetta near the border with Iran, said the sources, adding that Qambar, Faiz and Karim were injured in the firing.

In a statement issued here, the National Party condemned what it called a military operation in which helicopters were used.

The government was pushing the Baloch youth and political forces to the wall and it would have serious repercussions, it said.

The party alleged that the operation had been going on for three years in which hundreds of people were killed and arrested. A large number of people were missing, it said.

The party called upon the government to stop the military operation in Balochistan and release all political workers immediately.

Reuters adds: “We had intelligence information that Qambar and his men were hiding there. When we reached there, they opened fire,” said an officer in the paramilitary Frontier Corps, who declined to be identified.

The paramilitary officer initially said Qambar was caught along with five of his men, but he and a military spokesman later said 14 militants were caught in all. There were no casualties.

Qambar was the BLA leader in the area and was also involved in drug trafficking, the paramilitary officer said.