Paramilitary forces killed three suspected militants, including a senior commander, here on Tuesday, officials said, following two days of deadly attacks on Shias. Tuesday's raid in Quetta which has been racked by sectarian violence in recent years - came as authorities arrested 39 suspected militants in a separate operation.
"Our forces raided a compound in the eastern outskirts of Quetta today and killed three militants," a spokesman for the Frontier Corps (FC) force told AFP, adding that troops seized eight hand grenades and five small machine guns. "One of the dead militants has been identified as Mehmood Rind who was chief of Jaish-ul-Islam sectarian group in Balochistan," Akbar Hussain Durrani, the home secretary, said.
A night market bombing in the city on Sunday killed one and wounded eight, and was claimed by both Jaish-ul-Islam and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, another high profile anti-Shiite group. The blast was followed Monday by the gunning down of two Shia brothers at a passport office and a policeman who was at the scene. Police and paramilitary forces have rounded up 39 suspects in connection with Monday's shooting, the FC spokesman said. Senior police official Abdul Razzaq Cheema confirmed the arrests.