At least five personnel of the Pakistani army were killed, and two, including a major-ranking officer, were seriously injured in an IED explosion followed by gunfire in Buleda town of Kech district of Balochistan on Saturday.
According to reports, unidentified armed men ambushed a convoy of the Pakistani Army containing two vehicles and six motorcycles in Galli village of Buleda with an improvised explosive device (IED) and automatic weapons. Soon after the attack, a larger contingent of forces and helicopters were seen in the area.
Police confirmed that five Pakistani soldiers were killed, while Major Abbas and Lance Naik Mumtaz were injured in the attack. Moreover, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan army, confirms the attack and identifies the slain soldiers as Sepoy Tipu Razzaq, a resident of the Sahiwal district, Sepoy Sunny Shaukat, a resident of Karachi, Sepoy Shafi Ullah, a resident of the Lasbela district, Lance Naik Tariq Ali, a resident of Orakzai district, and Sepoy Muhammad Tariq Khan, a resident of Mianwali district.
Later, a “pro-independence” Baloch armed group, Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), claimed responsibility for the aforementioned attack. The group’s spokesman, Major Gohram, added that the attack was based on strategic and organizational intelligence-based information.
Similarly, a policeman named Muhammad Afzal was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. The shooting took place on Satellite Town Makran Road. Notably, in the last 24 hours, two policemen were killed in two separate incidents of firing in the city. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) took responsibility for both attacks.