By Staff Reporter
QUETTA: Security forces have killed 197 militants in a sweeping counterterrorism operation across Balochistan, officials said, as clearance efforts continued in remote mountainous areas following a series of coordinated attacks that left dozens dead and brought parts of the restive province to a standstill.
The operations, which intensified after militants struck multiple towns on Saturday, have focused on rooting out insurgents linked to the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), according to security sources and statements from the military’s media wing. The assaults, described by authorities as one of the group’s largest in recent years, targeted government buildings, security installations and civilians in at least nine locations, including Quetta, Mastung, Nushki, Dalbandin, Kharan, Panjgur, Tump, Gwadar and Pasni.
In Nushki, a district town in western Balochistan, armed assailants attacked a police station, judicial complex, police lines, the deputy commissioner’s office and a Frontier Corps camp, setting some government buildings ablaze. District police officials said the town itself has since been cleared, with bazaars reopening after three days of lockdown. But search operations persist in the surrounding mountains, where at least four more terrorists were killed in recent actions.
The broader crackdown has targeted militants associated with what Pakistani authorities call “India-sponsored Fitna al-Hindustan,” a term used by security officials to describe foreign-backed insurgent networks. Security sources reported that 22 Pakistani soldiers were killed over the past three days while defending against the attacks and protecting civilians. They added that 36 civilians, including women and children, also died in the violence.
The attacks began on Jan. 31 and unfolded over three days, paralysing daily life in Pakistan’s largest province. In Washuk, militants burned a police station and a National Database and Registration Authority office. Reports also emerged of assaults in Awaran, though no immediate casualties were confirmed there.
The military’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) office, in a statement released after the initial wave of clearance operations, said terrorists belonging to Fitna al-Hindustan had “maliciously targeted 18 innocent civilians — including women, children, the elderly, and labourers — who embraced shahadat.” The strikes in Gwadar and Kharan, the statement noted, were aimed at disrupting daily life and development projects in the province. Security forces and law enforcement agencies responded swiftly, launching intense operations that killed 92 militants, including three suicide bombers, according to the ISPR. “Our valiant troops carried out the engagement of terrorists with precision,” the statement said, adding that forces had “successfully thwarted the evil design of terrorists displaying unwavering courage and professional excellence.”
Sanitization operations followed to pursue the “instigators, perpetrators, facilitators and abettors” of the attacks on civilians and law enforcement. Intelligence reports, as cited by the ISPR, “have unequivocally confirmed that the attacks were orchestrated and directed by terrorist ring leaders operating from outside Pakistan, who were in direct communication with the terrorists throughout the incident.” The counterterrorism department also suffered losses during the weekend assaults, district police officials told Dawn, though no official figures or identities of the fallen have been released.
Saturday’s violence came just a day after the military announced it had killed 41 insurgents in two separate operations in the province, underscoring the escalating cycle of attacks and reprisals.
The BLA, which seeks independence for Balochistan and has long accused the Pakistani government of exploiting the region’s resources, has ramped up its campaign in recent years. The group has increasingly targeted Pakistanis from other provinces working in Balochistan, as well as foreign energy companies involved in development projects. Last year, separatists attacked a train carrying 450 passengers, leading to a deadly two-day siege that highlighted the militants’ growing boldness.
Balochistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran, has been plagued by insurgency for decades, with separatist groups clashing with security forces amid grievances over economic marginalization and human rights abuses. The recent attacks have renewed concerns about stability in the province, a key hub for China’s Belt and Road Initiative investments, including the strategic port of Gwadar.
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