18 Pakistani soldiers killed in fights with separatist rebels in Baloutchistan

Quetta, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistani troops fought separatist insurgents who installed roadblocks in the North-West region made from BalutchistanLeaving 18 paramilitary security forces and 23 rebels who died in some of the heaviest clashes in recent years, officials announced on Saturday.

The army said the troops suffered victims when they hired the insurgents who erected barricades on a key road to Kalat, bordering Afghanistan.

The security forces “managed to withdraw the roadblock” after the day’s fights on Saturday morning, the army said in a statement.

He said that 18 members of security personnel died during the operation and swore that “the authors, facilitators and accomplices of this heinous and cowardly act will be brought to justice.” The security forces recovered the bodies of 12 insurgents, said the army.

The troops also killed 11 other insurgents in an operation that was still underway, he said.

Pakistan’s civil and military security forces in 2024 experienced a 40% increase in militant attacks in all groups compared to 2023. However, in December, the army insisted that the security forces have Killed 925 insurgents in 2024, a record compared to the last five years, while 383 soldiers were killed in such operations last year.

The latest attacks aroused the condemnation of Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as well as provincial Balutchistan leaders, who also praised the security forces to eliminate the “terrorists”.

Zardari and Sharif said operations would continue in Balutchistan until the insurgents are eliminated.

THE Baloutch Liberation Army The separatist group claimed the responsibility of the attack.

In a statement, the BLA spokesman Azad Baloch said that their fighters had made significant progress in Kalat’s attacks, achieving their targeted goals. ” He also said that the insurgents attacked a military post in the district. Baloch said their 100 fighters had participated in the coordinated attacks against the security forces in the Kalat district.

Abdullah Khan, the director general of Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, said that the last attack has shown that the ability of the insurgent group to carry out several attacks and maintain highways under their control had increased. “The last attack has been one of the deadliest since last year,” he said.

Khan said Pakistan witnessed a sharp increase in militant attacks in January, increasing by 42% compared to the previous month. Up to 74 militant attacks were registered nationally in January, he said.

The BL often targets security forces, civilians and foreigners, especially the Chinese working on projects of several billion dollars in Pakistan. In November, a black Suicide bomber has exploded at a station In the city of the southwest of Quetta, killing 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff.

Since then, the military and the police have intensified operations against the insurgents of Balutchistan rich in oil and minerals, which is a hub for the ethnic of the country Baloutche minority, whose members say they are faced with discrimination and exploitation by the central government.

Balutchistan has been the theater of a long -standing insurrectionWith several separatist groups organizing attacks, mainly targeting security forces in their quest for independence. The province also has a range of militant groups active there.

The black also enjoys the support of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-E-Taliban Pakistan and is a distinct group but allied with Afghan Taliban.

The authorities say that the BLA and the TTP used weapons that fell into their hands after the Afghan Taliban came to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. The Islamic State group also has a presence in the province.

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The writer Associated Press Ishtiaq Mahsud contributed to this story of Dera Ismail Khan, in Pakistan.