QUETTA, Nov 24: At least seven militants were killed and over a dozen injured in a clash with security forces in Nelagh and Zain Koh areas of Dera Bugti district on Monday.

Sources said the forces facing an attack from a group of militants returned fire.

The gunbattle in which both sides used heavy weapons, including rockets, mortars and machineguns, continued for several hours.

Official sources claimed that five armed men were killed in Nelagh and two in Zain Koh. The injured were taken to Sui.

Reports reaching here said that16 militants had been arrested and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition, including rockets, landmines, machineguns and other automatic weapons, was seized.

Meanwhile, Baloch Republican Army’s spokesman Sarbaz Baloch claimed that security forces had killed innocent people working in fields.

He told newsmen on satellite phone that the forces had also used helicopters.