New Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS): The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday that Pak intelligence agencies had intercepted communications between the terrorists who carried out attacks in Balochistan a day earlier and their handlers are in Afghanistan and India, Dawn reported.
The ISPR said terrorists had attempted to attack security forces' camps in Balochistan's Panjgur and Naushki in two separate attacks late on Wednesday evening. The attacks had been "successfully repulsed" while dealing heavy damage to the terrorists, although one soldier was martyred in the Panjgur incident, the military's media wing had reported.
In an update issued on Thursday, the ISPR said that security forces had killed 13 terrorists in the province's Panjgur and Naushki areas.
"After successfully repulsing terrorist attacks at Panjgur and Naushki yesterday night, security forces carried out clearance operation to hunt down terrorists hiding in the area," the statement said.
In Naushki, security forces encountered and killed five more terrorists, bringing the number of total killings to nine. Four soldiers, including an officer, embraced martyrdom while repulsing the attack.
Meanwhile, in Panjgur, four terrorists were killed while at least four to five were "encircled by security forces", the statement said. The ISPR said the operation in Panjgur to eliminate fleeing terrorists "is continuing".
"As per initial investigation, intelligence agencies have intercepted communications between terrorists and their handlers in Afghanistan and India," the statement concluded, the report said.
Separately, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Zia Langove said several threats had been issued this month.
"We had threats from Daesh and so-called nationalists," he said while addressing a press conference in Quetta, adding that several groups were claiming responsibility for the attacks. "We have called a meeting of all departments, including intelligence agencies, after which things will become clearer."
The minister said "some people" brainwash the country's youth and take them towards the path of terrorism.
"They are our youth. They carried out terrorism in Pakistan from Afghanistan. Now, they are coming back to their country and spreading terrorism," he said, adding that the responsibility of such attacks lies with terrorist organisations and their supporters, the report said.