Armed assailants reportedly launched attacks on police and Levies checkposts in Balochistan’s Panjgur and Kalat districts, seizing weapons and other security equipment, officials confirmed on Wednesday.
In Panjgur, gunmen stormed a police post at 14 Chowk, overpowering officers and taking all their weapons and supplies before fleeing the scene. Meanwhile, in Kalat, assailants targeted a Levies checkpost, looting firearms and other security gear. Reports indicate that a Levies personnel sustained injuries during an exchange of fire before the attackers managed to escape.
No group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on police and Levies checkposts in Khuzdar and Panjgur.
The recent attacks on police and levies checkposts in Kalat and Panjgur come at the heels of a similar attack in Balochistan’s district Khuzdar, where the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) overran the police and Levies stations in Ornach. In a media statement, the group claimed that its fighters besieged the two stations for hours, seizing the weapons of the police and levies personnel and setting the buildings on fire before fleeing.
Similarly in January, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a “pro-independence” armed group, claimed responsibility for a large-scale attack in Zehri, 120km from Khuzdar. The group said its fighters held the city in a 10-hour siege and repelled the security forces’ convoy that was en route to Zehri to fight off the attackers. The BLA fighters seized weapons and the vehicles of the Levies forces before setting the station ablaze. The fighters also set fire to the NADRA office and reportedly took millions in cash from the city’s only UBL bank.