At least 18 people have been killed in what local sources describe as alleged fake encounters, carried out in the aftermath of a deadly assault in Quetta.
According to official reports, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed to have killed 18 members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in two separate operations in Quetta and Sherani district.
The operation in Quetta’s Aghber area was launched a day after a suicide attack on the Frontier Corps (FC) headquarters in Balochistan’s capital, which left at least 10 people dead and more than 30 injured. Authorities said 10 alleged militants were killed during the exchange of fire in Quetta, while two personnel were reported injured.
In a separate incident, the CTD reported killing eight others said to be linked to TTP in the mountainous region of Sherani.
However, local sources have disputed the official account, alleging that those killed were already in the custody of Pakistani forces and that the incidents were staged as fake encounters. The Quetta attack, which prompted the operations, has not yet been claimed by any group.
Allegations of such practices are not new in Balochistan, where rights groups and local activists have long accused the CTD and other Pakistani law-enforcement agencies of carrying out extrajudicial killings of missing persons following militant attacks.