By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed seven militants in two counter-terrorism operations in Balochistan on June 2, the military’s media wing said on Tuesday, as the government confronts a stubborn insurgency in the southwestern province.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media arm, said five militants were killed during an intelligence-based operation in Machh town, located in Balochistan’s Kachhi district. On the same day, two other militants were killed in a separate operation in the Margand area of Kalat district after security forces discovered a “terrorist” hideout.
“Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the slain militants, who it alleged were actively involved in numerous militant activities,” the ISPR said in a statement.
The operations underscore Pakistan’s ongoing struggle to quell violence in Balochistan, the country’s largest but most impoverished province, where separatist militants have targeted security forces, police, foreigners, and ethnic Punjabi commuters and workers, viewed by insurgents as “outsiders”, by seizing highways and remote towns.
The military called the latest actions as part of a broader effort to combat external threats. “Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of Indian-sponsored terrorism from the country,” the ISPR said, adding that the nation reaffirms its “unwavering resolve to bring the perpetrators of Indian-sponsored terrorism and their facilitators to justice.”
Pakistan has long accused India of funding and training ethnic Baloch separatist groups, notably the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), to destabilise the country.
The killings come amid a recent spike in violence in Balochistan. On Saturday, an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in a remote mountainous area of Quetta district killed two tribal leaders and injured seven others, signaling the enduring threat posed by insurgents. In March, BLA fighters stormed a train in the province, holding hundreds of passengers hostage until the military intervened to free them.
For years, Balochistan’s insurgency has been driven by separatist grievances over the province’s vast mineral and gas resources. Ethnic Baloch militant groups allege that the central government denies locals a fair share of the wealth, a charge Islamabad dismisses. The government points to health, education, and development schemes it has funded as evidence of its commitment to the region.
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