A commander of the militant group Islamic State (IS) has been killed by security forces in a raid in Balochistan’s Mastung district on Sunday, a spokesperson for the province’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said.
The spokesperson said security forces received information of the terrorist’s presence after which they launched an operation which took place in a vineyard in the district’s Killi Mehrab area.
Mumtaz Ahmed aka Pehelwan, the IS commander, was killed in the raid.
The provincial government had announced a Rs200,000 bounty for Ahmed.
According to Anadolu Agency, Ahmed was the suspected mastermind of the deadly suicide attack on an election rally in the district in 2018, in which 128 people were killed and more than 200 injured.
IS had claimed responsibility for the bombing.
In a separate incident, a Frontier Corps (FC) soldier was killed and two others injured after terrorists attacked a check post in the province’s Mach area.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that terrorists had targeted the check post and during the exchange of fire, a soldier — Sepoy Irfan — was killed while two others were injured.
“Pakistan Army remains committed to defeat such cowardly acts by externally sponsored terrorist elements. Terrorists will not be allowed to sabotage the hard-earned peace in the country,” the ISPR emphasised in the statement.
