Security forces on Friday killed the mastermind of the country's worst ever suicide bombing in an early morning shootout in Balochistan, officials said. The operation was carried out on a intelligence tip off about the presence of an Islamic State (IS) operative identified as Hidayat Ullah in a house in Darenjo village of Qalat district.
"The Frontier Corps (FC) raided the house and killed Hidayat Ullah after a strong resistance from him," Qaisar Khan, a senior administration official in Qalat, told AFP. A senior FC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP Ullah was facilitator of Hafeez Nawaz, who carried out the suicide bombing last week which killed at least 149 people.
A senior administration official in Mastung district Qaim Lashari also confirmed the Qalat raid. "Hidayat Ullah led a group of IS operatives, who are present in different areas of Balochistan, and we hope to track them down pretty soon," the official added.
News of Ullah's death coincided with a small explosion in Chaman district bordering Afghanistan which wounded four people. The bomb planted on a motorbike apparently targeted an FC vehicle and went off seconds after it passed by. Oil and gas-rich Balochistan is regularly hit by homegrown militancy and sectarian violence.
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