Islamabad: Pakistani security forces killed 145 people during a 40-hour military operation launched in response to a series of what authorities described as “coordinated” gun and bomb attacks across Balochistan, local media reported, quoting provincial Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), security forces killed 92 “militants” during the operation, while 15 civilians also lost their lives, reported leading Pakistani daily The Express Tribune.
Chief Minister Bugti said that 17 personnel from various law enforcement agencies, including the police and the Frontier Corps, along with one official from the navy, were killed in the attacks. In total, at least 31 casualties were reported, with several others sustaining injuries.
Authorities in Pakistan’s southwestern province are grappling with one of the deadliest surges of violence in recent years, as insurgents in the resource-rich region bordering Iran and Afghanistan have intensified attacks on security forces, civilians and key infrastructure.
Pakistan’s junior interior minister, Talal Chaudhry, claimed attackers disguised as ordinary civilians entered hospitals, schools, banks and markets on Saturday before opening fire.
“In each case, the attackers came in dressed as civilians and indiscriminately targeted ordinary people working in shops,” Chaudhry said, adding that the militants used civilians as human shields during the assaults.
The separatist Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attacks, stating that it had launched a coordinated offensive named Herof, or “black storm”, targeting security forces across Balochistan.
The group claimed that more than 80 members of Pakistan’s security forces were killed and that 18 personnel were taken captive.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest yet poorest province, has been plagued by a decades-long insurgency led by ethnic Baloch separatist groups who have been demanding greater autonomy and a larger share of the province’s vast natural resources.
(IANS)
