Pakistani security forces faced off with insurgents in two separate raids hours apart on their hideouts in two troubled areas in the country killing 12 militants and wounding six others, the military said Wednesday.
Four insurgents were killed in the first raid in Kech, a district in the restive southwestern Balochistan province, it said in a statement.
The raid in Balochistan came days after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in the capital, Quetta, killing at least 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff, and wounding about 62 others, some critically.
A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed Saturday's attack, saying the bomber targeted troops present at the railway station.
The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad, and authorities had vowed to eliminate it.
Also early Wednesday, troops raided a militant hideout of the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan, killing eight militants and wounding