The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) said on Sunday that its fighters killed at least ten Pakistani soldiers in two separate attacks in Zamuran and Kalat areas of Balochistan.
In a media statement, BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said group’s fighters detonated a remote-controlled IED against a convoy vehicle in Nawano, Zamuran, on Sunday, destroying the vehicle and killing all nine personnel on board.
Security sources confirmed that at least seven personnel were killed in the attack on the 146 Wing in Nawano sector. The dead were identified as Naik Tahir, Naik Bilal, Sepoy Tahseen, Lance Naik Rab Nawaz and Sepoy Munir. Two personnel, Sepoy Zain Azhar and Sepoy Ali Zaman, were also injured.
Sunday’s bombing comes days after a similar attack in the same area. On Tuesday, BLA fighters detonated an IED on a military vehicle in Zamuran, killing seven personnel including Naib Subedar Farooq, Lance Naik Karim Dad, Lance Naik Hidayat, Sepoy Awais and Sepoy Ali.
The BLA’s media wing, Hakkal, also released video footage of Sunday’s IED blast showing the military vehicle being destroyed.
The BLA further claimed responsibility for an armed assault on a military outpost in Morgand, Kalat district, a day earlier. One soldier was killed and two others injured in that attack, it said.
The spokesperson added that the BLA “will continue to intensify operations until the occupying forces withdraw from Balochistan.”
Another Baloch armed group, the Baloch Republican Guards (BRG), said its fighters set up a checkpoint on the main highway in the Dasht area near Quetta on Saturday night, where they stopped and searched vehicles for two hours. The group said it also attacked mineral transport trucks in Kolpur, damaging the vehicles.
Meanwhile, the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) said its fighters surrounded police personnel in the Sari Kahn area of Turbat on Friday evening. The group said the officers were taken hostage, their weapons and motorcycles seized, and later released unharmed after being warned.
BLF spokesperson Major Gwahram Baloch described the operation as evidence of the group’s “tactical superiority” in guerrilla warfare and warned local police against working for the military, adding that “as a responsible Baloch organization, we do not want Baloch blood on our hands.”
The latest wave of attacks reflects the intensifying campaign by Baloch armed groups, which have stepped up IED attacks, ambushes, and road blockades in recent months.
Last month, the Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), an alliance of armed groups of which the BLA and BLF are members, said it had carried out more than 70 operations, during which it seized control of parts of Khuzdar district and killed more than 50 Pakistani personnel.
Analysts say the increasing scale and coordination of the attacks underline how Baloch armed groups are more organized than at any point in the past two decades of the insurgency, suggesting they are now capable of challenging Pakistan’s control on multiple fronts across Balochistan.