CHAMAN: Armed militants killed two Afghan police personnel near the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman on Thursday morning, a senior administration official said.

Ismail Ibrahim, Assistant Commissioner of Chaman, told Dawn.com that armed militants killed two personnel of Afghan police hailing from the Kandahar province.

He said police discovered the dead bodies in the Boghra area of Chaman, Pakistan's neighboring town with volatile southern Afghanistan. A chit was also found with the bodies stating that “those working with Afghan forces would meet the same fate”, he said.

The dead bodies were rushed to the Civil Hospital in Chaman for postmortem.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killings.

However, a police official, who did not want to be named, said Afghan Taliban were behind the killings.

Meanwhile, security forces’ personnel foiled a major terror plot prior to Ashura procession by arresting two suspected suicide bombers in Chaman.

An intelligence official, who requested anonymity since he was not authorised to speak to media, told Dawn.com that forces acted on a tip off regarding militants’ whereabouts.

He said the forces also recovered two suicide jackets, explosive materials, detonators and arms and ammunition from the alleged militants' possession. "Forces acted quickly and therefore faced no resistance", he added.

The arrested suspects were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. The official refused to comment on the nationality of militants who are now under custody. "Let us investigate and then we will reveal their identities", he said.

The provincial government of Balochistan has placed security forces on high alert prior to the Ashura procession in Quetta and other troubled parts of the province.

Balochistan Interior Minister, Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, told Dawn.com that armed forces have been placed on high alert at three sensitive spots in Quetta for the first time.

The provincial interior minister also said there would be an aerial surveillance of the Ashura procession in Quetta.

Sarfaraz Bugti stated that approximately 10,000 policemen, Balochistan Constabulary and Frontier Corps personnel were deployed all across Quetta to avert any untoward incident on the eve of Muharram.