PESHAWAR, Aug 9: Pakistan’s military says its security forces have killed at least 47 militants in Balochistan province, close to the Afghanistan border, over the past two days. The operations took place in the volatile Sambaza area of Zhob district, which has seen repeated cross-border militant activity.
According to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), 33 militants were killed in a sanitisation operation in Sambaza on the night of August 7–8. A follow-up operation in nearby border areas the next night resulted in the deaths of another 14. The ISPR said the militants were “neutralised” during targeted raids aimed at dismantling armed groups operating near the frontier.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated province, has long been a hotspot for insurgent groups and Islamist militants, some of whom operate across the porous border with Afghanistan. Islamabad has repeatedly accused militant groups of using Afghan soil to plan attacks inside Pakistan, a charge the Taliban authorities in Kabul deny.