Five Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) blast during a clearance operation in Balochistan’s Kahan area, the military’s media affairs wing said on Sunday.

A press release from Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the operation was underway since Saturday when the IED exploded close to the leading party.

“Resultantly, Captain Fahad along with four other brave sons of soil, Lance Naik Imtiaz, Sepoy Asghar, Sepoy Mehran and Sepoy Shamoon, embraced martyrdom, laying their lives in defence of the motherland against an externally perpetrated threat of terrorism,” the press release reads.

The ISPR said that a sanitisation operation was underway in the area to apprehend the perpetrators.

“Such cowardly acts by inimical elements cannot sabotage the hard-earned peace and prosperity in Balochistan.

“Security forces remain determined to challenge their nefarious designs, even at the cost of blood and lives,” the ISPR said.

Earlier today, a terrorist was killed and a soldier martyred during exchange of fire between militants and security forces in the Sambaza area of Balochistan’s Zhob district.

The ISPR said the operation, launched on the basis of “credible information”, was continuing for the last 96 hours.

The objective of the operation was to “deny terrorists the use of few suspected routes to move across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to sneak into KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) along the interprovincial boundary and target citizens and security forces.”

In the ensuing exchange of fire, a terrorist was killed while a soldier, Sepoy Haq Nawaz, was martyred.

Two soldiers were injured in the gunfight, the ISPR statement said.