ISLAMABAD: The successful military operation in Mastung, which left 12 ‘hardcore’ terrorists dead, has foiled establishment of an organised infrastructure of Islamic State in Balochistan, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday.
The security forces conducted a major three-day intelligence-based operation in Splinji area of Mastung district last week in which terrorists hiding inside a cave to plan, coordinate and execute terror activities in the province were killed.
“There were reports of 10-15 terrorists of a banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami (LeJA) hiding in caves near Splingi (Koh-i-Siah/Koh-i-Maran), 36kms south east of Mastung. The said organisation was reportedly making efforts for communication with IS (Daish) and intended to facilitate establishment of its foothold in Balochistan,” the ISPR statement said.
ISPR said operation for physical clearance of target area started early morning on June 1 by landing of heliborne force. “Terrorists hiding in caves offered stiff resistance. 250 metre-long gorge with steep heights and multiple caves made the clearance operation difficult and challenging. Intelligence and security forces personnel fought valiantly to clear the hideout by June 3,” the communiqué added.
Claiming that the suicide bomber who targeted Senate’s Deputy Chairman Ghafoor Haideri on May 12 was sent by this group from the same hideout, the ISPR said two would-be suicide bombers were also among those killed during the operation.
The army claimed to have destroyed a bomb-making factory inside the cave besides seizing a cache of arms and ammunition.
Meanwhile, COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa said that terrorism was a menace that required a collective response.
According to ISPR, he expressed these views during his visit to Special Services Group (SSG) training area in Tarbela to witness completion of eight-week long counter-terrorism training of Nigerian Special Forces Battalion by Pak Army SSG team.
“Pakistan Army has vast experience in counter-terrorism (CT) operations as well as modern training facilities and we are happy to play a part in enabling CT response of multiple friendly countries,” he said.
