Pakistan media claims only five security personnel killed and over a dozen injured 

 

CLOSE ON the heels of Jaffar Express train ambush, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) freedom fighters mounted another attack in restive Balochistan province of Pakistan and claimed to have killed 90 Pakistani security personnel. However, reports in Pakistani media claimed that only five security personnel were killed and over a dozen were injured in the fidayeen attack on bus convoy carrying Pakistani military personnel, on Sunday. “The Majeed Brigade, the Fidayee unit of the Baloch Liberation Army, targeted a convoy of the occupying Pakistani military a few hours ago in a VBIED Fidayee attack near Rakhshan Mill on the RCD Highway in Noshki. The convoy consisted of eight buses, one of which was completely destroyed in the explosion,” a statement by the BLA said. However, Pakistani local media reports stated that at least five security personnel were killed and more than a dozen injured in attack by suspected Baloch militants in Balochistan province on Sunday.

 

Four terrorists, including the suicide bomber, were killed in counter-operations in Noshki district of the province, the local media reports said. A suicide attacker rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a convoy of paramilitary Frontier Corp (FC) on the NushkiDalbandin National Highway, said Zafarullah Sumalani, chief of the local police station, adding that the initial investigations suggested that it was a suicide attack He also said that evidence from the site of the attack suggested that a suicide attacker rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the FC convoy.

 

“Soon after the attack, security forces launched an immediate counter-operation, killing four terrorists, including the suicide bomber,” reported the newspaper ‘Express Tribune’. It also quoted security sources to say that the attack was carried out by ‘militants from the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA)’. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, and Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti all condemned the attack and expressed sorrow over the loss of lives. In a statement, Sharif said, “Such cowardly acts cannot shake our resolve against terrorism.” He directed the authorities concerned that the injured be provided with the best possible treatment. “Those who play with the peace of Balochistan would be brought to a tragic end,” Bugti said in an official release. Naqvi strongly condemned the blast and extended condolences to the victims’ families and wished a swift recovery for the injured. According to a statement shared by the Ministry of Interior on X, Naqvi emphasised that ‘anti-state elements were attempting to destabilise the country’. Balochistan Government spokesperson Shahid Rind also condemned the attack ‘targeting innocents’.

 

Over the past few years, Balochistan province has become more restive with the freedom fighters there mounting attacks on Pakistani security personnel. Bordering Iran and Afghanistan, Balochistan is home to a long-running violent insurgency. Baloch liberation groups frequently carry out attacks targeting security personnel, government projects and the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in this oil and mineral-rich province. In the past, the railway tracks in this area have been attacked by Baloch fighters using rockets or remote-controlled bombs, and the BLA claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.