The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Pakistani military convoy in Lasbela’s Walpat area, saying its Fateh Squad killed and wounded dozens of personnel.
The attack is the latest in a series of high-casualty assaults on military convoys carried out by the Fateh Squad, including an attack at Ziarat Cross earlier this month and another near Walpat in July.
Initial reports on Saturday said the convoy came under attack along the main highway in Walpat. Two vehicles were completely destroyed and several others were directly hit, local sources said.
The sources said Pakistani forces suffered heavy casualties, but the number of personnel killed or wounded could not immediately be confirmed.
BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch later said the group’s Fateh Squad had carried out the attack.
“Dozens of personnel of the occupying army were killed and wounded,” he said, adding that further details would be released to the media.
Pakistani authorities had not issued a statement on the attack at the time of publication.
RECENT FATEH SQUAD ATTACKS
On September 3, the Fateh Squad attacked a Pakistani military convoy at Ziarat Cross in Pishin. The BLA said four vehicles belonging to the Qila Saifullah Scouts and the Frontier Corps’ 134 Wing were targeted, with two vehicles, including a military truck, destroyed.
The BLA claimed that 18 personnel were killed, while Pakistani authorities confirmed the deaths of 16 personnel.
The BLA’s media wing, Hakkal, later released a seven-minute video purportedly showing Fateh Squad fighters using rockets and other heavy weapons against the convoy. The footage also showed damaged vehicles, bodies and fighters removing weapons from the site.
Saturday’s attack was the second major operation carried out by the Fateh Squad near Walpat in just over two months.
On July 8, Fateh Squad fighters ambushed a four-vehicle convoy of the Pakistani military’s 1 Sindh Regiment near Walpat as it travelled from Karachi towards Basima.
Pakistan’s military confirmed that a junior commissioned officer and 10 soldiers were killed. The BLA claimed that 17 personnel were killed and several others wounded, adding that its fighters seized weapons and military equipment from the convoy.
The BLA also said the Fateh Squad led an attack on a Pakistani military convoy comprising 18 buses carrying military personnel and dozens of escort vehicles in Mastung’s Khad Kocha area on July 16.
It claimed that 62 personnel, including three officers, were killed in the Khad Kocha attack.
The BLA describes the Fateh Squad as its fifth wing and “vanguard unit”, tasked with leading direct assaults, breaching defensive positions and taking a front-line role in attacks on Pakistani military positions and convoys.
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