QUETTA: Paramilitary forces have killed at least 13 members of an insurgent group who shot dead 20 construction workers in Turbat, officials said Monday.

Immediately following the killings, security forces launched a search operation in the barren mountainous area and have so far killed 13 militants, with the fighting ongoing.

“Security forces have killed at least 13 militants who killed the labourers,” a spokesman for paramilitary forces told AFP.

The spokesman said one BLF commander was among those killed, and another of the group’s leaders was captured alive.

Provincial home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani confirmed the militant death toll.

The group, which claimed Friday’s raid on the labour camp in Turbat district regularly attacks migrant workers and government installations.

Friday’s incident occurred around 1,000 kilometres (650 miles) southwest of Quetta.—AFP