Three militants, two women killed in Pakistan

At least three Taliban militants and two women were killed during a pre-dawn raid on a house by security forces in restive southwestern Pakistani yesterday, officials aid.
Pakistani security forces surrounded a house on a tip-off that members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were living in a neighbourhood of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, they said.
"Militants hurled eight hand grenades and fired at security forces wounding at least 15 security personnel," Abdul Wasay, spokesman for paramilitary Frontier Corps told AFP.
"The siege continued for about four hours and ended when three militants blew themselves up."
Senior police official Fayyaz Sumbal confirmed the raid and added that bodies of two women were also recovered from the room of the house where the men blew themselves up.
Police are investigating when the group moved to the area and what they had been doing or were planning to do, he said.
In May 2011 police and Frontier Corps opened fire on four unarmed Russians and a Tajik, saying they were suicide bombers who attacked a checkpoint in Kharotabad on the outskirts of Quetta.
A subsequent judicial commission found that the Tajik and the Russians, three of whom were women and one of whom was pregnant, were unarmed. It sacked two police officials over the killings.
Baluchistan is in the grips of a regional insurgency for self-determination. It is also a flashpoint for Taliban and sectarian violence.