Three Baloch armed groups said on Sunday they had carried out separate attacks in Balochistan and neighbouring Sindh, killing six and detaining two others while also destroying a gas pipeline.
In a statement issued to the media, Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) spokesperson Major Gwahram Baloch said the group’s fighters carried out a coordinated operation on the night of July 18 against what he described as a state-backed armed network in Kharan’s Kulan area.
According to the statement, BLF fighters surrounded the location of Hafiz Kabir, whom the group described as the head of a local “death squad” network.
The group said Hafiz Kabir’s son, Abdul Hakeem, resisted during the operation and was killed in retaliatory firing, while Hafiz Kabir and another son, Hafiz Naveed, were taken into custody.
The BLF said Hafiz Kabir and Hafiz Naveed would be presented before what it calls the “Baloch National Court” following a full investigation.
In another operation the same night, the BLF said its fighters shot dead Ghami Sasoli in the Gowash area of Kharan.
The group described Sasoli as a close associate of Sufi Mumtaz, whom it accused of leading a pro-government armed network, alleging that Sasoli had been involved in enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, theft and robbery.
“The BLF accepts responsibility for taking Hafiz Kabir and Hafiz Naveed into custody and for bringing Abdul Hakeem and Ghami Sasoli to their logical end,” the statement said.
Separately, the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) claimed responsibility for an attack on a convoy belonging to Mari Energies Limited near Inayat Shah Darbar, close to Sui in Balochistan’s Dera Bugti district.
In a statement, BRA spokesperson Sarbaz Baloch said the convoy was travelling towards Sui on Saturday when it was ambushed by the group’s fighters.
The spokesperson claimed that four personnel assigned to the company’s security were killed and eight others, including company employees, were wounded, adding that several vehicles in the convoy were severely damaged.
The BRA said it would continue its struggle against what it described as the “plunder of resources from Baloch land”, adding that it would oppose any project that did not have the “consent and will of the Baloch nation”.
In a separate statement, the Baloch Republican Guards (BRG) claimed responsibility for destroying a 36-inch gas pipeline running from Sui to Karachi in Sindh’s Kashmore area.
BRG spokesperson Dostain Baloch said the group’s fighters planted and detonated explosive devices on the pipeline on Saturday night.
The group said such operations would continue “until the complete independence of Balochistan”.
Pakistani authorities and Mari Energies Limited did not immediately comment.