The Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) claimed responsibility on Thursday for 13 operations across Balochistan in September, including attacks on Pakistani military posts and convoys, highway blockades and the killing of two men it described as “national criminals”.
BLF spokesperson Major Gwahram Baloch said fighters blocked the Quetta-Karachi highway at Mill in Surab for more than five hours on September 29 and checked vehicles. He said they also addressed people leaving a Tablighi gathering after prayers.
“The purpose was to maintain control of the area and monitor the movement of the forces and their facilitators,” the statement said of the blockade.
The spokesperson said fighters also blocked the main highway in Mand on September 28, stopping trucks it described as linked to “Pakistan’s economic interests” and puncturing their tyres. The drivers were released after a warning, he added.
The BLF said its fighters had carried out a similar blockade at Rek Bazaar in Mand on September 25, during which four trucks and a bulldozer were damaged.
The statement also detailed two attacks on Pakistani forces in Mand on September 24, claiming that an explosive device at a military post in Mehir killed one soldier and seriously wounded another.
Another soldier was killed when fighters targeted personnel guarding a military convoy in Baloch Abad, Mand, the spokesperson claimed, adding that a military vehicle at the same location was damaged by gunfire.
The BLF further claimed that fighters seized a police post in Ladandri, Jhao, on September 24 and took equipment from the site. It said they subsequently established a blockade on the Awaran-Bela Road to monitor the movement of Pakistani forces and their alleged facilitators.
The spokesperson said a separate military post in Siyah Damb, Jhao, was attacked with heavy and automatic weapons on September 28. He also claimed casualties and damage in a grenade-launcher attack on a post in Bazdad, Awaran, on September 29 and an ambush on a military convoy in Rousto, Wadh, on September 21, without giving figures.
According to the statement, one soldier was killed and another wounded in an attack on a post at Balbal Salman Jho in Khuzdar on September 22. The group said Pakistani forces subsequently attempted to target its fighters with a quadcopter, claiming that the attack was repelled.
The BLF also claimed that its sniper team killed a soldier stationed at a post in Senidi, Mashkay, on September 15.
The statement separately acknowledged the killing of Nusrat Tagapi, alias Sanjo, and Samiullah, son of Shafiullah, saying both had been sentenced to death by the “Baloch national court”.
The spokesperson said Tagapi was seized during a raid near the bypass in Kharan city on September 16 and shot dead at Muskan in Kalat on September 24.
Samiullah, a resident of Gonko in Khuzdar, was killed on September 7, according to the BLF. The group accused him of working under a man named Nasrullah and belonging to a network involved in extortion and narcotics.
It further alleged that Pakistani forces had armed Samiullah and his associates to track fighters and provide information, claiming that he confessed to the accusations while in its custody and was subsequently sentenced to death.
Pakistani authorities did not immediately issue a public response to the BLF’s claims.