Pakistan troops killed 22 Baloch separatists so far this week

Security officials at the scene of a bomb explosion in Quetta. Pic/AP

Pakistani 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 January 18 strikes on their camps in Iran that killed at least nine. Those strikes were in response to an Iranian strike in Pakistan.

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