QUETTA: Security forces killed at least 17 people including 12 women during clashes with armed Bugti tribesmen in Bugti Hills on Tuesday, Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Nawab Akbar Bugti has claimed. Speaking to reporters via satellite phone, Bugti said that tribesmen had also shot down a security forces helicopter. The 17 people were all civilians and the women were grazing cattle, he said. Bugti said that 22 helicopter gun ships and four jet fighters had been involved in air strikes against the Baloch tribesmen. Spy planes had also been used to collect information about the movement of Baloch tribesmen, Bugti said.He said that the warplanes and helicopter gun ships were involved in “indiscriminate bombing and shelling on human settlements in Bugti Hills”. Bugti said that troops stationed at a small cantonment near the Loti gas fields had also moved to the hills and joined a major operation against the Baloch fighters.