The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for a roadside bomb attack in Quetta that killed ten Pakistani military personnel and injured three others on Friday.
The blast took place in the Margat area, on the outskirts of the Balochistan capital, when a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) struck a vehicle reportedly belonging to a bomb disposal squad.
Initially, police officials said that four Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel were killed. However, in a statement released late Friday, BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said ten personnel were killed and the targeted vehicle was “completely destroyed.”
“Freedom fighters targeted a convoy of occupying Pakistani Army in a remote-controlled IED attack in Margat, a suburb of Quetta. In this operation, an enemy vehicle was completely destroyed and all 10 personnel on board were eliminated.”
The group’s media channel, Hakkal, also released a video titled “Elimination of 10 Pakistani Army personnel in Quetta,” which appears to show footage related to the blast and its aftermath.
The deceased have been identified as Subedar Shehzad Amin, Naib Subedar Abbas, Sepoy Khalil, and Sepoy Zahid. The injured — Lance Naik Zafar, Lance Naik Farooq, and Sepoy Khurram Saleem — were transferred to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for treatment.
Pakistani forces cordoned off the area following the explosion and launched a search operation.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack and described it as a “heinous conspiracy to destabilize the country.” In a post on X, the ministry said he had “offered condolences to the families of the victims and prayed for the recovery of those injured.”
Series of Deadly Attacks in Quetta
Quetta has witnessed a series of deadly attacks on Pakistani forces in recent months.
Earlier this month, three police officers were killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle. The Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), another Baloch “pro-independence” armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
In February, the BLA said it was behind an IED attack on a military convoy on Jan Muhammad Road in Quetta, which killed three soldiers and injured ten others.
One of the most high-profile operations occurred in November 2024, when a suicide bomber from the BLA’s Majeed Brigade detonated explosives at Quetta Railway Station. Thirty-one Pakistani military non-commissioned officers were killed and over 60 others injured. The attack remains one of the deadliest against military personnel in Pakistan’s recent history.
The BLA, formed in the early 2000s, is one of the most active armed groups in Balochistan. It has claimed hundreds of attacks targeting military installations, convoys, and infrastructure tied to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
According to data compiled by The Balochistan Post’s Data Visual Studio, the BLA carried out at least 302 attacks in 2024, resulting in over 580 fatalities and more than 370 injuries.