The Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), an alliance of Baloch armed groups, has claimed to be maintaining control of Zehri town in Khuzdar for the past 20 days, saying its fighters killed 37 Pakistani soldiers and seized vehicles, weapons and equipment during a wave of operations in several districts.
In a statement issued on Sunday, BRAS spokesperson Baloch Khan said the group carried out coordinated assaults in Zehri as well as in Mastung, Surab, Awaran and Kech districts between 10 and 16 August. He said the operations were part of a systematic campaign launched on 10 August, which BRAS claims has now included 76 attacks.
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According to the statement, on 11 August BRAS fighters ambushed a convoy of 13 military vehicles attempting to enter Zehri through the Gazan area. The group said one truck was destroyed, two vehicles were seized along with equipment, and several Pakistani soldiers were killed while others fled or were surrounded. BRAS said that some troops sought refuge in local homes using women and children as human shields, but were later killed or wounded as fighting stretched into the night.
BRAS also claimed it targeted a military post in Gazan with rockets and heavy weapons and forced reinforcements to retreat after an attack in Spidak. It said that despite helicopter shelling, drones and quadcopter bombings, Pakistani forces failed to regain control.
The alliance said it has set up checkpoints at Zehri’s entrances and continues to hold the area. It added that three soldiers and one Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officer were taken captive and are being interrogated, with their fate to be decided by the “Baloch National Court.”
Elsewhere, BRAS said its fighters attacked an army camp in Mastung’s Khadkocha area on 11 August, while on the same day blockading the highway in Kardgap, where it claimed to have captured a Levies post and two vehicles. It alleged that during the operation, army helicopters shelled civilian motorcyclists, killing three.
The group also said it carried out further attacks in Kech’s Saami area on 13 August, where a military post was targeted with rockets and heavy weapons; in Maskay’s Tanak Garmin Kaur area on 14 August, where it said a clash lasting more than an hour left soldiers dead or wounded; and on 16 August in Surab, where BRAS claimed to have blockaded the Quetta–Karachi highway near Tarki Dam for three hours before withdrawing.
In its communique, BRAS vowed to intensify operations, declaring: “The occupying Pakistani army, its intelligence agencies, death squads and supporting structures will continue to face resistance wherever they operate against Baloch national existence, land, resources and dignity. Our struggle will persist until complete liberation and national sovereignty are achieved.”
BRAS, an alliance of several armed Baloch groups including the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), has claimed responsibility for some of the deadliest coordinated assaults in Balochistan in recent years.
Analysts say the group has increasingly moved from traditional hit-and-run guerrilla tactics to larger, more organized operations, including seizing military posts, blockading highways and holding territory for extended periods, reflecting an intent to push the conflict towards a more conventional confrontation with the Pakistani state.