QUETTA: A ‘commander’ of the banned Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Abdur Rehman village of Kech district, official sources said on Friday.

The intense gunfight between the BLF leader and Frontier Corps personnel took place late on Thursday night during a search operation conducted on the intelligence report that militants belonging to the banned outfit were present in the area.

The dead leader was identified as Younus Taukali, said to be one of the top eight commanders of the BLF operating in the area.

“The BLF commander was killed in the operation conducted by FC troops after they cordoned off the area last night,” says a press statement of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Friday.

According to the ISPR, the terrorist was involved in the recent killing of 15 people from Punjab whose bullet-riddled bodies were found in the Grock area of Buleda Tehsil of Kech district. The place where the BLF commander was killed was located some 20km west of Buleda.

The sources said that Taukali was also involved in attacks on FC convoys with improvised explosive devices.

He was wanted to security forces for multiple murders, including that of Rahmatullah Shohaz, the founding member of the Baloch National Movement (BNM).

Weapons and other items were seized from his possession, the ISPR said.

In a related development, the FC carried out search operations in Dera Bugti, Uch and border areas of Chaman. Six suspects were taken into custody and several of their hideouts were destroyed in the operations.

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