QUETTA: A militant ‘commander’ of a proscribed sectarian organisation was killed in an operation conducted by security forces in Mastung district of Balochistan on Wednesday, intelligence officials said.

Security forces conducted an operation lasting over an hour in Dasht area of Mastung district, an intelligence official told Dawn.com on condition of anonymity.

He added that two militants of the banned militant group were picked up during the operation and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition was also recovered.

The official said the militants, who were allegedly involved in target killings of policemen, Hazara pilgrims, and Levies personnel in the area, were shifted to an undisclosed location for further interrogation.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by area, is plagued by extremist militancy and sectarian violence, as well as a nationalist regional insurgency waged by separatists.

Sectarian militant organisations like the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi have carried out several attacks and bombings on the ethnic Hazara Shia community in the province.

Last month, 30 members of the minority community were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at an Imambargah in Quetta, the provincial capital.

The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing, only one of a series of attacks by the radical sectarian outfit targeting the Shia Hazaras this year.