Dozens of armed men stormed a police station and damaged bank buildings in Balochistan’s Kharan district on Thursday, triggering heavy exchanges of fire with Pakistani forces, local officials and residents said.
Witnesses told The Balochistan Post that the attackers arrived in vehicles and on motorcycles and quickly took control of key points in the city. They overran the Kharan City police station, set records ablaze and freed detainees held inside.
A senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attackers damaged vehicles and weapons and released under-trial prisoners. He said no police personnel were killed.
Residents said heavy gunfire was heard around the police station and in several parts of the city. They said the attackers later moved into the main market, where the buildings of the National Bank of Pakistan, Meezan Bank and Bank Al-Habib were damaged. It was not immediately clear whether any money was taken.
Pakistani forces exchanged fire with the attackers, who later withdrew through multiple routes, local sources said. They added that Pakistan Army Lieutenant Colonel Wadhan, Major Asim and a subedar were injured in the clashes.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Officials said that while armed groups have carried out attacks in Kharan before, this was the first time such a large number of armed men had entered the central city and carried out an operation of this scale.
The incident follows similar raids in recent months in Panjgur, Khuzdar and Mastung, where armed groups briefly entered urban areas, targeted police and government installations and then withdrew.
Supporters of the Baloch armed movement describe such attacks as evidence of what they call a weakening of state authority, arguing that they show the fighters’ ability to challenge official control in key districts across Balochistan.