Pakistan’s security forces have killed at least 88 militants in a major anti-insurgency operation in the restive province of Balochistan since July 5, the Islamabad government said on Saturday.Nine militants were killed in the past 24 hours, interior minister Mohsin Naqvi said, adding that the total number of militants killed under “Operation Shaban” had risen to 88.“The total number of terrorists killed since July 5 in Operation Shaban has reached 88,” Naqvi said.The ongoing operation involves the Pakistan army, paramilitary rangers and the frontier corps, with security forces carrying out coordinated ground and air offensives against militant hideouts across the province.The operation was launched after a wave of coordinated militant attacks rocked Balochistan on July 5.The deadliest assault targeted a police checkpoint at Mangi Dam in Ziarat district, where militants killed nine police personnel before abducting 18 others. Officials later recovered the bodies of the abducted policemen from the Zarghoon Gar mountainous area near Ziarat.The killings sparked outrage, with the families of the slain officers continuing a sit-in protest at Koila Phatak Chowk on the outskirts of Quetta. The protesters are demanding justice for the victims and stronger security measures for law enforcement personnel.On Friday, grieving families brought eight of the 18 bodies from Quetta’s civil hospital to the protest site, saying they would not bury them until the government assured them of justice and better protection for police personnel.Violence also struck the Hanna Urak Valley near Quetta on July 5, where militants attacked members of a local tribe, killing five people, injuring eight others and abducting 11.The abducted tribesmen were rescued on Friday night, prompting their relatives to end a separate protest that had been staged near Quetta’s airport road.Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated province, has witnessed a decades-long insurgency. Ethnic Baloch groups have long accused the federal government of exploiting the province’s vast natural and mineral resources while neglecting local development, fuelling periodic outbreaks of violence.
