Pakistan, July 17 -- The continuing Operation Shaban in Balochistan has now become more than a counterterrorism campaign. Security forces killed three more terrorists on Thursday, taking the reported toll in the operation to 91, while state media says 129 terrorists have been killed in intelligence-based actions in the province.

The operation was launched after the attack on the Mangi Dam police post, where nine policemen were martyred at the site. It was a deliberate assault on the state's most exposed line of defence-local policemen serving in a province where every post, road and convoy has begun to carry the weight of a wider war.

The state's response is, therefore, necessary. Armed groups that attack police, soldiers, civilians, ro...