Mastermind of Mastung carnage killed in Qalat

QUETTA: Security forces on Friday killed the mastermind of the country's worst-ever suicide bombing in an early morning shootout in Balochistan, officials said.The operation was carried out on an intelligence tip off about the presence of an Islamic State (IS) operative identified as Hidayatullah in a house in the Darenjo village of Qalat district.

"The Frontier Corps (FC) raided the house and killed Hidayatullah after a strong resistance from him," Qaisar Khan, a senior administration official in Qalat, told AFP. A senior FC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that Hidayatullah was the facilitator of Hafeez Nawaz, who carried out the suicide bombing last week which killed at least 150 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack at an election rally in Mastung district.

The provincial authorities identified the bomber as Nawaz, a Pakistani national who fought in Afghanistan before carrying out the suicide attack in Mastung. A senior administration official in Mastung Qaim Lashari also confirmed the Qalat raid.

"Hidayatullah led a group of IS operatives present in different areas of Balochistan, and we hope to track them down pretty soon," the official added. The news of Hidayatullah's death coincided with a small explosion in Chaman, which wounded four people.