Daily Times

Security forces killed 22 insurgents this week in an operation against Baloch separatists, who had launched attacks with suicide bombers and gunmen in retaliation for Pakistani strikes on insurgent hideouts in Iran in January, officials said Thursday.

Four security forces and two civilians died when insurgents launched rocket attacks before dawn on Monday on security facilities in Mach, a district in Baluchistan province. The outlawed Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks, which continued until Tuesday night.

Jan Achakzai, a government spokesman in Baluchistan, said the situation in Mach was under control now after the killing of the 22 insurgents.

The violence in Mach came after the BLA threatened to target security forces following Pakistan´s Jan. 18 strikes on their camps in Iran that killed at least nine people. Those strikes were made in response to an Iranian strike in Pakistan that appeared to target a different Baluch militant group with similar separatist goals.

Following the tit-for-tat attacks, both sides agreed Monday to improve their security cooperation, though the two countries had earlier accused each other of providing safe haven to the groups in their respective territories. Balochistan in recent days has seen multiple attacks.