Pakistani security forces kill 12 insurgents in 2 raids hours apart

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani security forces faced off with insurgents in two separate raids hours apart on their hideouts in two troubled areas in the country killing 12 militants and wounding six others, the military said Wednesday.

Four insurgents were killed in the first raid in Kech, a district in the restive southwestern Balochistan province, it said in a statement.

The raid in Balochistan came days after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in the capital, Quetta, killing at least 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff, and wounding about 62 others, some critically.

A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed Saturday's attack, saying the bomber targeted troops present at the railway station.

The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad, and authorities had vowed to eliminate it.

Also early Wednesday, troops raided a militant hideout of the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan, killing eight militants and wounding six, the military said in a separate statement.

The insurgents killed were members of the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.