Quetta: Three police officers, a paramilitary soldier, and a militant were killed in a shootout on Sunday after militants attacked a security post in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, according to officials.
One of the militants was also killed, according to the local police chief, Abdul Salam Baloch, while the others managed to flee to one of their many hideouts in the mountainous Shirani district, which borders North Waziristan.
According to Baloch, the attackers targeted the joint security post of police and paramilitary forces using assault rifles, hand grenades, and rocket-propelled grenades. In the roughly two-hour-long shootout, two militants and one paramilitary trooper were injured, according to Bilal Shabbir, a senior administrative officer in the Shirani district. He claimed that the attackers got away with their injured accomplices. In order to find and eliminate the offenders, he added, security forces had launched a search operation in the region and the mountains nearby.
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Abdul Quddoos Bizenjo, the head of the provincial government, denounced the assault and expressed sorrow over the deaths of the four security personnel. Although no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, local TTP (Pakistani Taliban) militants who have previously attacked security forces in recent months operate in the region.
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The Afghan Taliban, a distinct organisation but an ally of the TTP, overthrew the government in the neighbouring nation in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were nearing the end of their withdrawal. The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban has given the Pakistani Taliban more confidence, and they have increased attacks on law enforcement and military targets in recent months after unilaterally breaking a cease-fire with the government.
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Major operations have recently been conducted by the Pakistani military in the tribal region near the Afghan border, which has long been a haven for both domestic and foreign militants. Attacks are still being carried out in the area by militants, though.