At least 8 Frontier Corps’ soldiers and 6 OGDCL personnel were killed in a convoy attack on the Ormara coastal highway on Thursday. The convoy was reportedly travelling from Gwadar to Karachi when it was ambushed along the way near Ormara by unidentified gunmen. The area has been cordoned off and the security forces have launched a search operation.
The convoy of the state-run Oil and Gas Development Authority was reportedly travelling from Gwadar to Karachi when it was attacked on the way. The photos of the site show the charred bodies of the dead soldiers and the personnel. The local sources say that one of the vehicles caught fire when it sustained repeated shots from the attackers. The dead bodies have been shifted to a nearby naval base.
BRAS claims responsibility
Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), an alliance of four armed “pro-independence organisations” has claimed that its fighters were behind the today’s attack. In an email sent to media outlets, the entity claimed that “BRAS fighters eliminated more than 15 enemy personnel and agents of exploitative company” in the attack.
The incident was similar to several previous attacks by the armed pro-independence organizations. In April last year, the Baloch insurgents pulled off 14 personnel of the Navy and Coast Guards vehicles and shot them dead on the same coastal highway as today’s attack. Baloch Aajoi Raj Sangar (BRAS) had later claimed responsibility for the attack.
BRAS and several other individual armed groups have carried out several attacks on Pakistani forces in Balochistan. In July this year, at least 8 soldiers were killed and 5 others were wounded when the armed Baloch gunmen attacked a security forces convoy in Panjgur.