Three 'BLA terrorists' killed in Rangers crackdown

KARACHI: Three 'terrorists' suspected of affiliation with the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) were killed, while one other was injured in an exchange of fire with Rangers personnel during an operation near the Ismael Shah Mazar area late Saturday night.

Those killed have been identified as Zahid, Nasir and Habib, alias Fauji. Their accomplice, Allahi Buksh, alias Guddu, was injured, said a Rangers press release.

The statement said the paramilitary force was conducting 'surgical action' on suspected hideouts of 'BLA terrorists'. On seeing the Rangers, the 'gangsters' resorted to firing, upon which paramilitary troops returned fire.

The 'terrorists' are suspected of engineering a railway track blast near Gharo, killing a Chinese national in 2010 at the Hub checkpost, extortion, target killing, kidnapping for ransom and providing support to the BLA in Karachi.

The June 15, 2013 attack on the Ziarat Residency was carried out by the BLA, which also claimed responsibility for the murder of 13 non-Baloch labourers in September of the same year. The group mainly operates in the Khuzdar and Bolan districts although like the other insurgent groups, its area of operations is not rigidly defined.