Two people were killed and two wounded in a rocket attack in Balochistan, local sources said on Monday, while separate attacks destroyed a police station and a highway bridge, disrupted rail services and set a fuel tanker ablaze.
The rocket attack hit a location in Alandur, in the Buleda area of Kech district, which the sources linked to an alleged state-backed armed group. They identified the dead as Yahya, a resident of Parom in Panjgur, and Ayesha, daughter of Lal Muhammad. The wounded, Sheyak and Shahab, were both from Alandur.
Local sources described the group as a “death squad”, a term used in Balochistan for armed groups accused of receiving state support and targeting Baloch political activists and nationalists.
Pakistani forces were also targeted with explosives during a clearance operation on foot at Soro in Manguchar, Kalat, sources said. Two personnel were reportedly caught in the blast, although authorities have not released casualty details. The explosion destroyed a bridge on the main highway, halting traffic.
Vehicles queue on the Quetta–Karachi highway in Manguchar after a blast damaged a bridge and halted traffic. [TBP]
Armed fighters seized Khattan Police Station in the Bolan region and blew it up with explosives. Police said the building was reduced to rubble.
Another explosion damaged a railway track near Gulab Larro in Naseerabad, within the jurisdiction of Mangoli Police Station, suspending rail services.
In a separate attack, armed fighters intercepted a fuel tanker on the Quetta-Taftan trade route in Chagai and set it ablaze, destroying the vehicle.
The attack in Chagai follows a series of similar incidents along the route since the Baloch Liberation Army announced an economic blockade earlier this year. Commercial vehicles and Pakistani forces deployed to protect them have repeatedly been targeted.
The Baloch Republican Guards (BRG) later claimed responsibility for the police station attack in Bolan and the railway blast in Naseerabad.
Its spokesperson, Dostain Baloch, also claimed an attack on a railway track in Sindh’s Khairpur district the previous day, saying it derailed a freight train and severely damaged the train and track.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks in Buleda, Manguchar or Chagai.