The Pakistani security forces were targeted in three separate attacks in Sibbi, Panjgur and Jhal Magsi, presumably by the Baloch “pro-independence” groups active in these areas.
According to the details, a group of unknown assailants attacked a Levies check-post in Jhal Magsi. The assailants opened heavy fire on the check-post and the Levies personnel retaliated, killing one attacker. One soldier, identified as Fateh, was killed in the attack and another one was badly injured. One attacker was also killed while the rest managed to flee.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a somewhat similar attack in district Sibbi, unknown armed men attacked an FC check-post located in the mountainous region on Wednesday. It is yet to be confirmed whether the forces sustained any casualties or material damage. The attackers managed to escape unscathed.
Baloch “pro-independence” groups are most active in the region, but no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Baloch Republican Army, an armed group struggling for the independence of Balochistan, said in a media statement that its fighters were on their routine patrol in Panjgoor when a local death squad, led by the personnel of Pakistan’s Military Intelligence, tried to surround them. The forces were in two separate vehicles.
The BRA said that its fighters one-upped their attackers and instead surrounded one of their vehicles. The fighters then opened fire on the vehicle, killing the five people inside.
Then a firefight broke out between the BRA fighters and the local “death squad” where the latter were overpowered and had to flee. The BRA fighters set fire to the vehicles and confiscated their weapons.
The BRA identified the slain “death squad” members as Khalil s/o Haji Bilal, Dawood s/o Yaseen, Hamza s/o Ghulam Jan, Amanullah s/o Ghulam Jan and Shoaib s/o Wahid. The BRA said that the aforementioned persons actively working with the Pakistani forces against the Baloch national struggle. They were also involved in the assassination of several Baloch “pro-independence” fighters.
The BRA said that these individuals were also part of the confrontation between the Balochistan Liberation Front and the Pakistani security forces in Mand in 2020 where BLF Commander Noora Peerak was killed. They were also involved in social crimes like drug peddling, burglaries, ransom kidnapping and “enforced disappearances.”