The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said on Saturday that five terrorists were killed during its joint operation conducted with other law enforcement agencies in Balochistan’s Duki district. Faced with increasing attacks by militants, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, security forces have also intensified counterterrorism operations. “Five terrorists were killed during the action,” the CTD said in a statement, noting that the joint operation was conducted in Duki’s Dhabar Pahari area. It added that they belonged to a “banned organisation” and were involved in “attacks on coal mines, [security] forces, and citizens”. The CTD statement further said the slain terrorists’ bodies were shifted to the Duki Civil Hospital. Hailing the counterterrorism action by the “CTD, FC [Frontier Constabulary] and other LEAs”, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti expressed his satisfaction over the operation. “State institutions are fully active against terrorism,” he said in a statement, pledging that “every conspiracy to destabilise Balochistan will be thwarted”. CM Bugti said the provincial government was taking “every possible action” to protect people’s lives and property. “Indiscriminate action will also be taken against those facilitating the terrorists,” he added.