LeJ Balochistan chief, 2 suicide bombers killed in Pak military operation

Karachi, May 17

Banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s Balochistan chief Salman Badeni, a “high-value” militant involved in over 100 murders on minority Hazaras and police personnel, was killed on Thursday during a security raid in southwest Pakistan, the military said.

The security forces carried an intelligence-based operation at Killi Almas village on the outskirts of Quetta, capital of the Balochistan province, after receiving information that suicide bombers and terrorists were hiding in the restive region.

“During operation three terrorists--two suicide bombers and a high-value target Salman Badeni, LeJ head of Balochistan, were killed,” according to a statement by the ISPR, Pakistan Army’s media wing.

Security forces killed the LeJ chief involved in killings of over 100 innocent personnel of Hazara community and police, it said.

“Two suicide bombers killed were Afghani. The group was involved in target killings of innocent Hazara community and police,” it added.

An army officer was killed and four other soldiers were wounded, two of them critically, in the intense exchange of fire, the statement said.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) has its roots in the Punjab province and has a history of carrying out sectarian attacks in Balochistan, particularly against the minority Shia Hazara community.

Two LeJ militants were arrested for killing Amjad Sabri, one of Pakistan’s finest Sufi qawwals, in a sectarian attack, in Sindh in 2016.

The group had claimed responsibility for killing 61 people, mostly young cadets, during an attack on a police training centre in Quetta, one of the deadliest terror attacks in Pakistan. PTI