IS militants on the run in Quetta after evading police raid

QUETTA: A band of suspected Islamic State militants is on the run in the country after escaping a police raid that killed six other members of the group, officials said on Monday.

Counterterrorism 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".

A senior police official said "teams are now raiding different areas to arrest those who escaped". Among the dead was Asghar Sumalani, a junior commander in the regional chapter of Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K). He had a Rs2 million bounty on his head. The group claimed responsibility for numerous attacks, including the slaying of 11 miners from the Hazara community last year.

Some of the miners were beheaded after being kidnapped from a remote coal mine in Machh area. IS-K has deep roots in several provinces in eastern Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan.