ISLAMABAD, Oct 30, (Xinhua): Pakistani security forces killed 18 terrorists in two intelligence-based operations in the country's southwestern province of Balochistan, the military said on Thursday.

The operations were carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday against the banned terrorist organization Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistani army, said in a statement.

The first operation took place in the provincial capital city of Quetta, where troops engaged the militants' location and killed 14 of them after an exchange of fire, according to the statement. In a separate operation in Kech District, four militants were neutralized and a hideout was destroyed, the military said.

Weapons, ammunition and explosives were seized during the raids, it added, noting that the militants had been involved in multiple attacks in the region. The military said that sanitization efforts were continuing to eliminate any remaining BLA terrorists.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif commended the security forces for the successful operations and vowed to eliminate all forms of terrorism from the country.