At least four police officers were killed on Tuesday after terrorists opened fire at them near Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, in a fresh wave of attacks targeting security personnel.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations), Zuhaib Moshin said that an operation was launched on Tuesday morning to neutralise terrorists who were involved in a spate of attacks on security forces in Kuchlak, a town near Quetta.
“The operation was carried out by police and Frontier Constabulary personnel and when they surrounded a house in the Kuchlak area where the terrorists were holed up, they responded by opening fire on the forces,” Mohsin said. Four police officers were killed in the gunfire, he said.
In retaliation, the officers managed to kill one terrorist, while the rest managed to flee. The body of the alleged terrorist was taken to a Quetta hospital to establish his identity, he said. In recent times, Balochistan province has seen an uptick in the rise in terror attacks on law enforcement officials.
On Monday, at least four people were killed and 21 injured in two separate attacks targeting the police in Quetta. On Sunday, two police officers were killed and one injured by unknown assailants in the same Kuchlak district.
These attacks come days after a crucial National Security Council (NSC) meeting was convened by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in which it was decided to launch a "comprehensive operation" to eliminate the scourge of terrorism in all its forms from the country.
