The Baloch “pro-independence” group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) said on Friday that the second phase of its campaign, known as “Operation Herof,” had successfully concluded after six days of what it described as coordinated urban warfare across multiple cities in Balochistan.
In a detailed statement sent to the media, BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said the operation began at 5 a.m. on January 31 and ended at 4 p.m. on February 6 after, according to the group, its “predefined objectives” were achieved. The spokesperson said the campaign targeted 14 cities across Balochistan and represented what he described as the “largest, most intense and most organised military operation” in the group’s history.
According to the statement, Baloch fighters carried out simultaneous attacks and, in several locations, established control over security posts, military installations and parts of urban areas. The spokesperson claimed that in a number of cities, Baloch Liberation Army units maintained their positions for up to six consecutive days, forcing Pakistani forces into what he described as a “sustained retreat.” He said this resulted in what the group viewed as political, psychological and military losses for the state.
The spokesperson said that during the course of the operation, a total of 93 Baloch fighters were killed. These, according to the group, included 50 members of the Majeed Brigade, 26 from the Fateh Squad and 17 from the Special Tactical Operations Squad. He said all major units of the organisation took part in the campaign, including the three mentioned above, ZIRAB, which the group describes as its intelligence wing, and Hakkal, its media wing.
The statement claimed that more than 362 personnel from Pakistani security forces were killed during the operation. The spokesperson said these included members of the Pakistani army, the Frontier Corps, police and what he described as state-backed armed groups.
Jeeyand Baloch further stated that 17 security personnel were detained during the operation. According to him, 10 of those detained were released after being warned, on the basis that they were Baloch, while seven remain in the group’s custody. He said the remaining detainees would face proceedings over alleged involvement in war crimes and what he described as acts of genocide. The statement also said dozens of military facilities were damaged, weapons were seized and that the operation significantly undermined what the group described as the state’s military superiority.
At the conclusion of the operation, the spokesperson said the Baloch Liberation Army considered all strategic and tactical objectives of the phase two of “Operation Herof” to have been fully achieved.
He outlined three primary objectives of the campaign. The first, he said, was to demonstrate that Baloch fighters possess the capacity to attack and establish control over urban centres at a time and place of their choosing. The second was to convey to the Baloch population that the resistance, as described by the group, is based on collective confidence and organisational strength. The third objective, according to the statement, was to challenge what the group described as the perceived and unchallenged dominance of Pakistani forces across Balochistan.
The spokesperson said the choice of urban warfare was deliberate. Cities that, according to him, were regarded by Pakistani forces as secure strongholds were intentionally selected to demonstrate that the Baloch movement was no longer confined to mountainous areas. He said the group maintained control over key military sites, checkpoints and urban locations for long enough to convey its message to both the local population and the international community that it was capable of setting its own strategy and shaping the battlefield on its own terms.
He said the outcomes of the operation were not merely symbolic but carried what he described as practical, political and deep psychological effects. According to the statement, the second phase of “Operation Herof” was intended to reject narratives that portray the Baloch national movement as tribal, violent or extremist. The spokesperson said the group viewed its struggle as organised, politically conscious and rooted in what he described as national dignity, rather than as a reactionary movement.
Jeeyand Baloch said attempts by the Pakistani state to link the Baloch armed struggle with terrorism or religious extremism were, in his words, part of a deliberate effort to distort the nature of what he described as a political movement. He stated that the struggle was not based on ethnic hatred or sectarian ideology, nor did it rely on foreign funding.
According to the spokesperson, the movement’s leadership includes educated individuals such as students, professors, lawyers, doctors, engineers and intellectuals, as well as women and men from different segments of Baloch society. He said the movement was based on the vision of an independent and self-governing Baloch homeland, where access to freedom, education, healthcare, dignity and control over resources would be the right of every citizen rather than privileges for a few.
The statement said the movement did not originate from within Pakistan’s state structure and that the group did not consider itself part of what it described as a colonial system. The spokesperson said the campaign was not a protest but a resistance, framed as a response to more than seven decades of what he described as occupation, resource exploitation and systematic violence.
He accused the state of seeking to maintain control through force rather than dialogue, citing alleged practices such as enforced disappearances, detention centres, demographic changes and what he described as proxy administrations. According to the statement, these policies were aimed at weakening Baloch identity and reducing Baloch people to a minority in their own land.
Jeeyand Baloch said individuals who previously pursued peaceful and political means were, according to him, silenced through false cases, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. He claimed that nearly every household in Balochistan had been affected by state violence, alleging that students were taken from educational institutions and that women involved in peaceful protests were also subjected to violence. He said such conditions left many with no option other than armed resistance.
The spokesperson also called on international human rights organisations, countries that advocate the rule of law and global institutions to acknowledge what he described as the scale of abuses committed by Pakistani forces in Balochistan. He said sustained diplomatic pressure was necessary to bring an end to the “occupation” and to ensure justice for a population that, according to him, had been deprived of a voice for decades.
In addition, the statement warned foreign companies and international investors against partnering with Pakistan in the extraction of Balochistan’s mineral resources. The spokesperson said any such cooperation would be viewed as support for “occupation.” He said the group did not recognise Pakistan’s authority or claims over the territory and that institutions involved in what he described as colonial projects would be regarded in that context, with their presence not seen as separate from military activity.
The statement concluded with an expression of gratitude to Baloch men and women who, according to the group, supported the second phase of “Operation Herof .” Jeeyand Baloch said the role of the population, ranging from intelligence and logistical assistance to resilience in the face of what he described as collective punishment, was decisive. He said the operation’s outcome belonged to the entire nation and described it as “only the beginning,” adding that the group would return, in his words, “stronger, more prepared and more united,” until its stated objectives were achieved.