Pakistani security forces raided a compound in the country’s troubled southwest and killed four militants linked to an attack on a police academy earlier in the week, officials said Friday.
The raid in Quetta, the capital of strife-riven Balochistan province, was carried out late Thursday following an intelligence tip-off about the presence of fighters from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militant group.
“A team of anti-terrorist force (ATF) raided the compound and killed four militants after an exchange of gunfire,” a senior local police official Abdullah Afridi told AFP.
Speaking off the record, a police official said the militants belonged to the LeJ — a faction of which claimed it had worked with the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group to carry out the Monday night raid that killed 61 people, the deadliest assault on a security installation in Pakistan’s history.
ISIL had previously also claimed the raid and released photos of the gunmen involved, one of whom bore a strong resemblance to a attacker who was killed by security forces in the assault.
The Balochistan government has also formed a joint investigation team (JIT) comprising officials from the army, police and intelligence agencies to probe Monday’s attack.
Source: AFP
