At least a dozen Pakistani security personnel were killed in a series of coordinated bombings and assaults across Balochistan, with Baloch armed groups claiming responsibility for multiple operations.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said its fighters targeted a military vehicle in a remote-controlled IED attack at Nawano in the Zamuran area of Kech on Tuesday.
He said seven personnel, including Naib Subedar Farooq, Lance Naik Karim Dad, Lance Naik Hidayat, Sepoy Awais and Sepoy Ali, were “eliminated on the spot” and the vehicle was “completely destroyed.”
Pakistani authorities earlier confirmed that five personnel were killed and four injured when a vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Nawano Zamuran. The injured were identified as Naik Jelani, Hidayat, Afzal and Sepoy Saddam.
The BLA also claimed responsibility for attacking a military post in Kolwah’s Madag Kalat area with rockets and heavy weapons, and for destroying surveillance cameras installed by security forces in Bolan’s Shorkand area.
The group on Tuesday released video footage of a separate roadside bombing in Panjgur’s Parom area on 28 August, in which it claimed six soldiers were killed.
Meanwhile, Pakistani officials confirmed that two personnel of the Frontier Corps’ F-109 Wing were killed in an IED blast in Jhao, Awaran district, on Wednesday. The dead were identified as Muhammad Zubair and Rehmatullah. Local sources said the vehicle was destroyed in the explosion and suggested the toll may be higher.
In a separate statement, the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) said its fighters carried out multiple operations in Awaran, Surab and Turbat. It said that on Monday its fighters launched simultaneous assaults on army positions at Musa Kambi and Doliji in Jhao, killing one soldier and injuring two others.
The group added that on 21 August its fighters struck a military convoy in Surab’s Naghar area, destroying a truck in an IED blast that killed five soldiers and injured three.
BLF spokesperson Major Gwahram Baloch said that on 28 August, the group destroyed surveillance cameras installed at Shahrak Hospital in Turbat, saying they violated “the privacy and dignity of rural and mountainous patients.”
The latest attacks form part of an intensifying wave of operations across Balochistan. Since 10 August, the Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), an alliance of armed groups including the BLA and BLF, has claimed responsibility for 76 operations, including the takeover of Zehri tehsil in Khuzdar and attacks in Basima that killed 13 personnel, among them Captain Asif of the Pakistani army. The BLA separately claimed responsibility for 17 attacks in August, including five IED blasts.