Forty-three people, including nine paramilitary personnel, have been killed and many more injured in fierce clashes between the security forces and militants in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province. An engineer of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited was also among the dead. Many persons were injured, some of them seriously, in two days of fighting between the security forces and militants in Uch area of Dera Bugti district, sources in the paramilitary Frontier Corps told a news agency.
Eight militants were killed on Saturday while the rest were killed yesterday. Heavy weapons, including rockets and mortars, were used in the clashes.
The security forces also arrested nine injured militants and recovered a huge cache of arms from their possession. The injured militants were shifted to the provincial capital of Quetta for treatment and interrogation.
Frontier Corps personnel also arrested over two dozen other armed men and seized weapons and ammunition from their possession.
The clashes erupted after the militants targeted a gas installation in Uch area on Saturday night. Intermittent exchanges of fire between security forces and militants continued yesterday.
A spokesman of the Baloch Republican Army claimed that its members had killed "many" security forces personnel but this could not be independently confirmed. The spokesman also accused the security forces of killing innocent tribesmen.
The security forces said they had destroyed two camps from which the militants were launching attacks on gas installations and security personnel, a newspaper reported. Three militant commanders were among the dead, official sources said.