In the troubled southwest region of Balochistan, militants killed a kidnapped Pakistani army commander as his colleagues arrive to rescue him, the military said on Thursday.
Security authorities said that Lieutenant-Colonel Laeeq Baig Mirza was kidnapped late on Tuesday while he was returning to the city of Quetta from a high area with his family and a friend.
A unusual assault on an officer of his level in the area bordering Iran and Afghanistan was reported by the separatist militant Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in a statement.
According to Pakistan’s military, its soldiers and helicopters launched a search and rescue operation late on Wednesday and discovered up to eight terrorists in a storm drain in neighbouring mountains.
According to a statement from the military’s media branch, “militants shot the Colonel after detecting their potential encirclement.” The remainder of the terrorists fled, although two were killed in a firefight, it continued.
Security authorities said that after halting their vehicle on the route between Quetta and the hill town, Ziarat, the terrorists also kidnapped and murdered the officer’s buddy, who could only be named as Umer.
On Thursday, an official who asked to remain unnamed because they were not authorised to talk to the media revealed that Umar’s corpse had been found in a separate location in the hilly terrain.
Years of conflict have been waged by the BLA and other separatist groups in Balochistan, an area rich in resources that has drawn significant Chinese investment.
Three Chinese instructors were murdered in a suicide assault in April in Karachi, the metropolis of the neighbouring province of Sindh, bringing vehement criticism from Beijing. It was blamed on the BLA.
Insurgents assaulted two Pakistani military outposts in Balochistan in February with explosives and weapons, killing seven troops and injuring 13 of their own men.
