Helicopter gunships and ground troops attacked armed tribesmen’s hide-outs in Balochistan, killing 23 fighters and wounding 15 others, an official said on Sunday. The security forces destroyed seven “terrorist training camps” in operations in the Sangsilla and Bamboore areas of Dera Bugti district that began late on Saturday and continued until Sunday, said provincial government spokesman Abdur Raziq Bugti. He said that the information of militant deaths and injuries was based on intercepted communications between the rebels. The security forces also seized a cache of long-range rockets during the raids, Bugti said. “As part of the government’s plan to wipe out terrorists, operations were conducted and we succeeded in killing and rounding up a large number of Bugti loyalists,” he said. Bugti added that 50 rebels had surrendered to the government. “The loyalists of Nawab Akbar Khan are ditching him one by one. Earlier, his top commander Bangan Khan left him. Now, 50 more people have decided to give up armed struggle and support the government. We have no reports of what happened to the dead bodies. We got the information in communication intercepts from the insurgents.” Dera Bugti District Coordination Officer Abdul Samad Lasi said the bodies of the killed insurgents were in the custody of the local administration. He said the injured were being shifted to hospital for further treatment. “Once they are treated, legal action will be taken against them,” he said.
A tribal fighter denied the government claim that rebel tribesmen suffered casualties. Wadera Alam Khan said 17 security forces personnel had been killed.