QUETTA: A band of suspected Islamic State militants is on the run after escaping a police raid that killed six other members of the group, officials said late Monday.
Counter-terrorism police said in a statement they had stormed a hideout in Quetta on Saturday and killed six militants, but “around four to five managed to escape.”
Among the dead was Asghar Sumalani, a junior commander in the regional chapter of Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K). He had an Rs2 million ($11,400) bounty on his head.
“Teams are now raiding different areas to arrest those who escaped,” a senior police official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP.
The group has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks, including the slaying of 11 miners from the ethnic Hazara minority early last year.
Some of the miners were beheaded after being kidnapped from a remote coal mine in the mountainous Machh town, 60 kilometres southeast of Quetta.
IS-K has deep roots in several provinces in eastern Afghanistan along the porous border with Pakistan.
The group carried out a suicide bombing at Kabul airport in August, killing scores including 13 US service members, as the Taliban retook Afghanistan.
