QUETTA / NORTH WAZIRISTAN: Five people were killed in North Waziristan while two security personnel, including an officer, embraced martyrdom in fresh incidents reported from terror-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, officials said on Thursday. On reports that terrorists were planning to target innocent civilians in Harnai district, security forces under were mobilised to sanitise the area on Thursday, said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). The troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location and killed three terrorists, it said. However, during the operation, an improvised explosive device went off near the leading vehicle of security forces. Twenty-eight-year-old Major Haseeb from Multan, who was leading his troops from the front, and 38-year-old Havildar Noor Ahmed from Barkhan district, having fought gallantly, made the ultimate sacrifice and embraced shahadat. The armed forces’ media wing said that the security forces of Pakistan, in step with the nation, remain determined to thwart attempts at sabotaging peace, stability and progress of Balochistan, and such sacrifices of brave soldiers further strengthen their resolve. Separately, unidentified armed men intercepted a vehicle in the Mangi area of Ziarat and kidnapped two people. Later, their bullet-riddled bodies were found in a hilly area near Mangi Dam. Officials said armed men had blocked the road leading to Mangi Dam area and took away two persons after their national identity cards showed they belonged to Punjab. The area people informed the local administration about the presence of the bodies, leading the Levies personnel to shift them to a nearby hospital. Names of the deceased could not be ascertained. Security forces launched a search operation in the area for those involved in the crime. Three women and two children, including four from the same family, were killed and 16 others injured in a powerful explosion outside a house in North Waziristan district in the wee hours of Thursday morning, police said. “Several nearby houses were destroyed in the explosion,” DPO Rokhan Zeb said, adding that the incident was being investigated. He said bodies and the injured persons were shifted to Miramshah hospital. Medical Superintendent Miramshah hospital Dr Hamidullah said the severely wounded persons were shifted to Bannu for better treatment. The area people said many locals were still trapped under the debris of the houses and rescue activities were under way. DPO Zeb said three women and two children died in the blast, adding that the cause of the explosion was unclear. Some other sources, however, claimed that it was a suicide attack which was a result of ongoing enmity between two banned outfits — Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Gul Bahadur group. They said a TTP suicide bomber blew himself up at Gul Bahadur’s centre killing five militants of the Jaish Umari group and several others. “Late on Wednesday night, the banned TTP’s Noor Wali Mehsood group carried out a suicide attack on the banned Gul Bahadur’s centre and on Thursday morning, the Gul Bahadur group killed Mehsood group’s key militant commander Zafruddin alias Mukhlis,” they said.