Eleven Pakistani military personnel, including a junior commissioned officer, were killed after armed men ambushed a military convoy near Walpat in the Bela area of Balochistan on Wednesday, the Pakistani military’s media wing confirmed.
According to local sources, the convoy, comprising several military vehicles, was travelling along the Quetta-Karachi highway when armed fighters lying in ambush attacked it with rockets and automatic weapons.
The attack left several other personnel injured, while the assailants also took away weapons and ammunition belonging to the soldiers killed in the assault, sources said.
Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed the attack during a press briefing in Rawalpindi, saying a Pakistani military convoy had come under attack in the Bela-Winder area near the N-25 highway.
“The convoy was attacked, and one junior commissioned officer and 10 soldiers were killed,” he said.
The military spokesperson said the attackers were fighters of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and claimed that 14 BLA members were also killed during the ensuing fighting.
The military provided no further details or evidence regarding the reported deaths of the 14 BLA fighters, and the claim could not be independently verified.
Local sources identified the personnel killed as Subedar Waheed; Naiks Saqib and Zaheer; Sepoys Sajjad, Waseem Akhtar, Shakoor, Waqar Noor and Usman; Lance Naik Qurban; and two others identified as Basharat and Bilal.
The identities have not been officially released by the Pakistani military.
Sources said the overall casualty figure could be higher than the toll confirmed by ISPR.
During the press conference, Chaudhry also confirmed the attacks in Ziarat and Quetta’s Hanna Urak area and said a total of 42 police and army personnel had been killed in three attacks across Balochistan this week. He added that 54 militants had been killed in the incidents.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Bela attack.