
NIN Web Desk : (Subhrajyoti Chattopadhyay); Three paramilitaries were seriously injured while two escaped unharmed. In a statement, the Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack on the paramilitary, but gave a lower death toll of 17 only. At least 11 of the attackers were killed in what the military described as follow-up “clearance operations” on Saturday as per sources.
The mineral-rich Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the scene of a decade-old rebellion by separatist ethnic Baloch groups. Several armed groups also operate there for quiet a long time.Though on Tuesday, in a separate incident, attackers in an explosive-laden vehicle were thwarted in their attempt to overrun a Pakistani security post near the border with Afghanistan. In the last month January, at least six people were killed in an attack also claimed by the BLA, one of the main separatist groups in the region.
In November, the BLA also said it carried out coordinated attacks that killed at least 39 people, one of the highest tolls in the region.In August, at least 73 people were killed in Balochistan when separatist fighters attacked police stations, railway lines and highways which forced security forces to launch retaliatory operations.The violence also comes in the backdrop of worsening relations between Pakistan and the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan.
Similar dramatic uptick in attacks has been witnessed elsewhere in Pakistan in recent months, including in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In 2024 alone, the military reported 383 soldiers and 925 fighters killed in various border area clashes.