Pakistan has been battling a separatist motion in Balochistan for many years, the place rebels goal state forces, international nationals and non-locals.
Printed On 31 Jan 2026
At the least 10 safety officers and 37 fighters have been killed as armed males launched “coordinated” assaults throughout Pakistan’s Balochistan province, officers stated, within the newest incident within the violence-hit southwest area.
A number of police stations within the provincial capital of Quetta had been focused by alleged ethnic Baloch gunmen in an assault that started at about 3am (01:00 GMT) on Saturday.
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Pakistan has been battling a separatist motion in Balochistan for many years, the place rebels goal state forces, international nationals and non-locals within the mineral-rich southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
Inside Minister Mohsin Naqvi, in a press release, stated 10 safety officers had been killed within the assaults, additionally praising the forces for killing 37 fighters after coming below fireplace at a number of places throughout Balochistan.
Naqvi stated the assaults had been carried out by “Fitna al-Hindustan”, a phrase the federal government makes use of for the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Military (BLA), which he claimed is backed by neighbouring arch enemy, India.
In a press release, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the safety forces for “foiling” the assaults, additionally accusing India of backing the separatists. “We are going to proceed the battle in opposition to terrorism till its full eradication,” he stated.
New Delhi has not but responded to the allegations.
A number of members of the Pakistani safety forces had been reported to have been kidnapped in the course of the assaults. Web and prepare companies have been suspended whereas a safety operation is below approach.
The BLA claimed accountability for Saturday’s assaults, based on the AFP information company. The group claimed to focus on army installations and police and civil administration officers in gun assaults and suicide bombings.
Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan authorities, stated many of the BLA assaults had been foiled.
The assaults got here a day after the army stated it had killed 41 armed fighters in two separate operations in Balochistan, Pakistan’s poorest province, regardless of an abundance of untapped pure sources.
“Over the previous 12 months, safety forces in Balochistan have despatched greater than 700 terrorists to hell, with round 70 terrorists eradicated in simply the final two days alone,” stated Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister of Balochistan province. “These assaults can not weaken our resolve in opposition to terrorism.”
Balochistan has lengthy been the location of a riot by separatist teams looking for independence from Pakistan’s central authorities in Islamabad.
Baloch separatist teams and the Pakistan Taliban, recognized by the acronym TTP, have intensified assaults in Pakistan in current months. The TTP is a separate group however is believed to be allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, who returned to energy in August 2021.
Final yr, ethnic Baloch separatists attacked a prepare with 450 passengers on board, prompting a two-day siege throughout which dozens of individuals had been killed.
In August 2024, the rebels blew up bridges, stormed lodges and focused safety installations in assaults throughout the province that left dozens lifeless.
