Terrorist ‘gun attack’ in Balochistan’s Harnai leaves 7 souldiers martyred

Inter Services Public Relations said on Sunday stated, seven soldiers were martyred in a terrorist attack on a Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan post in Harnai district of Balochistan.

The terrorist gun attack targeted an FC post located in Shahrag area of Harnai on Saturday.

It said that the area had been cordoned off and escape routes blocked to detain the escaping miscreants.

A large scale search and clearance operation was in progress in the area.

“During intense exchange of fire, seven brave soldiers embraced Shahadat while repulsing raiding terrorists,” an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said.

“Such cowardly acts by inimical elements backed by anti-state forces will not be allowed to sabotage hard-earned peace and prosperity in Balochistan the security forces were determined to thwart their nefarious designs at all costs”. ISPR said.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was “saddened to hear of” the soldiers’ martyrdom in the attack.

“My heartfelt condolences & prayers go to their families. Our nation stands with our courageous soldiers who face attacks from Indian backed terrorists,” he wrote in a tweet.

The martyred soldiers were identified as Naib Subedar Gulzar, resident of Mianwali, Sepoy Faisal – Hafizabad, Sepoy Abdul Wakeel – resident of Pishin, Sepoy Sher Zaman – Kohat, Sepoy Jamal – Dera Bugti, Abdul Rauf – Dera Ghazi Khan and Faqeer Muhammad – Muzaffargarh.

The incident comes five days after 10 suspected terrorists were shot dead in a gun encounter with security forces during an intelligence based operation in Balochistan’s Awaran.

“These terrorists were involved in firing on security forces, which resulted in martyrdom of Lance Naik Mohammad Iqbal on Dec 20 in the Awaran area,” the ISPR had said at the time.

Earlier in October, 14 security men — seven personnel of the Frontier Corps and as many civilian guards employed by the OGDCL — were martyred in an armed attack on their convoy on the Coastal Highway in the Ormara area of Gwadar district.

The encounter took place between security forces and a large number of terrorists on the Coastal Highway near Ormara when a convoy of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) staff was being escorted from Gwadar to Karachi.