Pakistani Military Says Its Forces Killed 9 Insurgents in SW Country

During a raid on their hideout in the southwest Baluchistan region on Saturday, Pakistani security forces shot and killed nine accused insurgents, according to the military.

Security authorities raided separatist Baluchistan Liberation Army militants in the province's Kohlu district, according to a military statement. They had learned that the militants responsible for the previous assault on security forces in Baluchistan and the September bombing in Kohlu Bazaar, which resulted in the deaths of two people and the injuries of 19, were hiding and plotting other strikes.

The BLA did not immediately issue a statement, and attempts to contact its spokesman were unsuccessful.

The military said that as security forces surrounded them, the militants opened fire starting an hourslong shootout that ended in the deaths of nine insurgents and the arrest of three wounded suspects. A search operation was underway in the area to eliminate any other militant hideout, it said.

The Baluchistan Liberation Army and other small separatist groups have long waged a low-level insurgency in Baluchistan, calling for independence from Islamabad's central government.

Despite Pakistan's claims that the insurgency has been put down, the province has continued to experience violence.