Additional Coverage:
Coordinated Attacks Rock Southern Pakistan, Resulting in Dozens of Casualties
QUETTA, Pakistan – A wave of nearly a dozen coordinated attacks swept across southern Pakistan early Saturday, leaving 11 civilians, 10 security personnel, and 67 insurgents dead, according to authorities. Separatists from Pakistan’s Balochistan province have claimed responsibility for the widespread assaults, which targeted civilians, a high-security prison, police stations, and paramilitary installations.
While Baloch separatists and the Pakistani Taliban frequently engage security forces in the region, the scale and coordination of Saturday’s attacks are considered rare. Officials reported that at least 108 militants have been killed across Balochistan in the past 48 hours, with 67 of those fatalities occurring on Saturday alone.
Among the civilian casualties were three women and three children in the city of Gwadar, all identified as ethnic Baloch, according to police official Ibad Khan. Khan stated that law enforcement swiftly responded to the attacks, neutralizing all assailants.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi confirmed the deaths of 10 security officers in a statement.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a group banned in Pakistan and designated a terrorist organization by the United States, took responsibility for the attacks. The BLA also released videos purportedly showing female fighters participating in the assaults, a move seemingly aimed at highlighting the role of women within their ranks. Some banks were also reportedly robbed during the incidents.
Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, indicated that the majority of the attacks were thwarted. These incidents follow closely on the heels of military operations earlier in the week, where security forces reportedly raided two militant hideouts in the southwest, killing 41 insurgents in separate gunbattles.
Provincial Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti posted on X that security forces are actively pursuing the insurgents, noting that approximately 700 insurgents have been killed by security forces over the past year.
Balochistan police and government officials initially reported 37 assailants killed, with an additional 30 traced and shot dead. Earlier Saturday, insurgents also destroyed rail tracks, leading Pakistan Railways to suspend train services connecting Balochistan to other parts of the country.
Militants Launched a Series of Attacks Saturday
The attacks commenced almost simultaneously across the province, according to provincial Health Minister Bakht Muhammad Kakar. He confirmed that two police officers were killed in a grenade attack on a police vehicle in Quetta, the provincial capital. An emergency was declared at all hospitals.
In Mastung district, dozens of insurgents reportedly attacked a prison, resulting in the escape of over 30 inmates. Other attacks included an attempt by militants to storm the provincial headquarters of paramilitary forces in Nushki district, which was repelled by police.
Insurgents also hurled grenades at a government administrator’s office in Dalbandin district but were forced to flee due to a rapid response from security forces. Attacks on security posts in Balincha, Tump, and Kharan districts were thwarted, while in Pasni and Gwadar, insurgents attempted to abduct passengers from buses traveling along highways.
The BLA has been linked to numerous attacks in recent years, with Pakistan asserting the group receives support from India – a claim New Delhi denies. Pakistan has also repeatedly accused Baloch separatists, the Pakistani Taliban, and other militants of using Afghan soil to launch attacks, which Kabul refutes.
Baloch separatist groups and the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have escalated attacks in Pakistan in recent months. The TTP, a distinct group allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, who regained power in August 2021, has also been increasingly active.
Balochistan has long been a flashpoint for insurgency, with separatist groups seeking independence from Pakistan’s central government in Islamabad.