Baluchistan: Talking merger, BLA and BLF kill nearly 40 Pakistani soldiers
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), discussing a merger while fighting against Pakistan to liberate Baluchistan, on Thursday, targeted Pakistani army soldiers in two separate incidents and killed nearly 40 soldiers, the media reported.
The BLA’s Fateh Squad ambushed a military bus going from Karachi to Quetta and killed at least 29 Pakistani soldiers.
The BLF said it killed 10 Pakistani soldiers in attacks in Kalat and Jhau areas.
Some reports claimed the two outfits killed nearly 80 people, half of them soldiers.
The BLA claimed it carried out two major attacks on Wednesday, including the one at Nimrag Cross in Kalat, where the Fateh Squad ambushed a military bus and killed 29 soldiers and wounded many others.
The terror group said civilian qawwali artists, also travelling on the bus, were not targeted. It asked civilians to stay away from military installations and convoys to avoid future attacks.
Baluchistan has long seen unrest, driven by anger over resource extraction, lack of political representation, and heavy militarisation, and abduction of freedom fighters and others.
A new wave of unrest has surfaced in Pakistan’s largest province by area and armed attacks were carried out in recent days on Islamabad’s security forces in the Awaran, Quetta, and Kalat districts.
The latest attacks have once again put the spotlight on Baluchistan’s fragile security environment, where periodic armed rebellions continue to test Islamabad’s control over the mineral-rich, sparsely-populated region.
Security forces have launched an operation in the affected areas, and a search for the attackers is underway. The situation remains tense, with intense fear and panic among the people.
