96 including troops, police, alleged terrorists killed in Pakistan in 4 days

At least 54 alleged terrorists and 42 others, including policemen, troops and civilians, were killed in three major engagements between security forces and militants across Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province over the past four days, the Pakistani military said on Wednesday, reported Xinhua.

Speaking at a press briefing, the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said the attacks targeted an army convoy, a police check post, and residents in separate incidents, while security forces launched follow-up operations against the attackers.

Chaudhry said the deadliest attack on security forces occurred along the N-25 highway, where militants belonging to the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) attacked an army convoy, killing 11 soldiers. Security forces retaliated and killed 14 militants during the engagement.

He added that subsequent intelligence-based operations in Kharan and Dalbandin districts killed another 14 militants, as part of the military's ongoing response to recent attacks in the province.

In another incident, militants launched what Chaudhry described as a "multidirectional attack" on a police check post guarding a dam in Ziarat district. He said policemen fought back, killing 15 militants before the attackers temporarily overran the post and took the surviving personnel hostage.

At least nine policemen were also killed in the attack, he added.

Army and Frontier Corps reinforcements, along with other law enforcement agencies, were immediately dispatched and launched an operation to surround the militants in the mountainous area of Ziarat, where fighting has continued since Monday, he said.

A total of 18 policemen and 11 terrorists were killed in the subsequent operation, Chaudhry added.

The military spokesman also said that on the night between July 4 and 5, BLA militants attacked civilians in the Hanna Urak area. Local residents resisted the assault and forced the attackers to retreat, but four civilians were killed, and six others were injured.