QUETTA: Three suspected militants were killed on Friday in a combing operation conducted by law enforcement agencies in the Zarghoonabad area of Nawan Killi, a locality on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

After senior police officer Hamid Shakeel Sabir was martyred in a suicide attack, personnel of Frontier Corps and Counter-Terrorism Department conducted a search operation on a tip-off from intelligence agencies in Zarghoonabad late on Thursday night.

As the security forces reached the suspected compound, armed men opened fire and hurled grenades at them. However, security personnel immediately took positions and resorted to retaliatory firing.

Three suspected militants, who were hiding in the compound, were killed in the gun battle which continued for more than two hours.

The alleged terrorists killed in the operation belonged to a banned extremist outfit, said a senior security official.

“They [militants] were involved in different terrorist activities. A large number of grenades and other weapons and ammunition were recovered in the compound being used as a hideout,” he added.

The bodies were shifted to the Civil Hospital for identification, but their identity was not ascertained yet. Further investigation is under way.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2017