Army captain, four soldiers martyred in Balochistan IED blast: ISPR

RAWALPINDI: A Pakistan Army’s Captain Fahad along with four soldiers embraced martyrdom in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast during a clearance operation in Balochistan’s Kahan area, ARY News quoted ISPR Sunday.

An IED blast occurred to the leading party during a clearance operation underway in the Kahan area of Balochistan since December 24 following credible intelligence, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

Resultantly, Captain Fahad along with four other brave sons of soil Lance Naik Imtiaz, Sepoy Asghar, Sepoy Mehran and Sepoy Shamoon have embraced Shahadat, laying their lives in defence of the motherland against an externally perpetrated threat of terrorism, it added.

The military media’s wing said that such cowardly acts by inimical elements cannot sabotage the hard-earned peace and prosperity in Balochistan.

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“The security forces remain determined to challenge their nefarious designs, even at the cost of blood and lives. The sanitization operation continues in the area to apprehend perpetrators.”

Earlier in the day, a Pakistan Army soldier was martyred and a terrorist was killed on early Sunday during an exchange of fire with terrorists in Balochistan’s Zhob.

According to the military’s media wing, “based on credible intelligence, an operation was launched in Sambaza area of Zhob, to stop terrorists from using few suspected routes to move across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and to sneak into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), along the interprovincial boundary and target citizens and security forces.”

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As a result of continuous surveillance and sanitisation of the area, a group of terrorists was intercepted in the early hours today, the ISPR added.

The press statement further stated that during “the establishment of blocking positions to deny them escape routes, terrorists opened fire onto the security forces”.

In the ensuing exchange of fire, a terrorist was killed while a soldier, Sepoy Haq Nawaz, was martyred. Two soldiers sustained were injured in the gunfight, the ISPR statement said.

“The terrorists were supported by their facilitators from across the border as well during the exchange of fire,” it added.

The military’s media wing said the sanitisation operation continues in the area to apprehend the remaining perpetrators.