5 suspected militants killed in NE Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan

Security forces killed five suspected militants in a clash in northeastern Pakistan Sunday morning, the Punjab police said in a statement.

One paramilitary soldier was also killed and another was injured in the clash, Pakistan's army said in a statement, adding that the operation was still underway.

The clash -- the second in the last 24 hours -- occurred during a search operation in the remote Dera Ghazi Khan district, situated nearly 500 kilometers from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

The militants were asked to surrender but they fired at police. When the police fired back, all five were killed, the statement said.

On Saturday morning, 10 suspected militants were also killed in Lahore in a similar clash.

The dead included two prime suspects in a February suicide blast near the Punjab state assembly building in Lahore which killed 13 people, including two senior police officers, the police said.

Following a fresh spate of terrorism that has killed over 130 people in last two months, Pakistan's army, along with other law enforcement agencies, recently launched a nationwide counter-terrorism operation. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a coalition of various militant groups in Pakistan, and its allies have claimed responsibility for the fresh violence.