Pakistani security officers killed in blast claimed by Baloch separatists

At least five police officers and dozens of others have been killed and injured by a roadside bomb blast in Balochistan, in the province of Pakistan, according to police. A deadly train hijacking incident in the southwest province was less than a week prior to the attack.

The Noshki district of Balochistan was the target of the attack, which the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for on Sunday. The separatist organization was also responsible for the train hijacking, which claimed the lives of numerous people.

More than 30 paramilitary forces members were hurt in Sunday’s attack, according to Hashim Momand, the Noshki district’s senior police superintendent.

Another police official, Zafar Zamanani, claimed another nearby bus had been severely damaged by the explosion. A nearby hospital was where the dead and the injured were taken.

Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister of Balochistan, expressed regret over the fatalities and condemned the attack. In a formal press release, Bugti declared that those who violate the peace of Balochistan will suffer a tragic blow.

Shehbaz Sharif, the country’s prime minister, also denounced the attack, which comes as Pakistan addresses its growing security issue in its Afghan-adjacent regions.

Local sources, including Kamal Hyder, claimed that an attack was carried out on a convoy of at least eight buses carrying security personnel from Noshki to Taftan, which is close to Iran’s border, according to Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder.

“First, there was a rocket-propelled explosive device followed by a volley of fire from the attackers. According to him, who was speaking from Islamabad, the local sources reported that they were concerned that the death toll might rise.

Pakistan’s independence

Prior to the incident, security forces launched an operation to kill all 33 attackers before the BLA ambushed the Jaffar Express, which had taken about 400 people hostage on board and killed 26 of them, including soldiers.

Pakistan claimed on Friday that India was the mastermind behind the train’s hijacking last week and that it was the result of “terrorists” communicating with “handlers in Afghanistan.”

During a press conference in Islamabad, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the director general of the military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said, “We must understand that the main sponsor of this terrorist incident in Balochistan and others before, is eastern neighbour]India.”

Balochistan has struggled for decades with a lack of security. The BLA, which has long fought for Balochistan’s complete independence from Pakistan, is a prominent armed group in the area. Pakistan and the United States, which label the group as a “terrorist,” have banned the group since 2006.

The largest province in Pakistan, which has about 15 million residents, is Balochistan. However, it continues to be largely underdeveloped despite its abundance of resources. 3.6% of Pakistan’s population is made up of Afghanis.

Islamabad refutes the central government’s claim that it discriminates against Baloch residents, which the country has long been accused of.

The provincial chief minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, condemned a number of police attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan and is north of Balochistan.

The Pakistan Taliban, known as TTP, claimed there had been 16 attacks in the past 24 hours, despite the fact that he had not provided casualty numbers.

In separate overnight attacks in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province districts of Karak and Peshawar, at least two policemen and a private security guard were killed, according to police reports from Sunday.

The TTP, which is ideologically aligned with the Taliban in Afghanistan, has increased its attacks over the past few years in the country.

More than 1,500 people died in the nation as a result of these attacks last year.