Islamabad: at least 18 soldiers were killed and five, including two civilians, injured after separatist activists have launched night attacks in the province of Balutchistan in southwest Pakistan, said the province of media affairs on Saturday ‘Army, adding that 23 terrorists were also shot in “PRESSANE operations” after the assaults.
The incident took place in the city of Mangochar, in the Baloutchistan Kalat district, in the intermediate evening on Friday and Saturday, when activists tried to establish roadblocks in the region, said public relations Inter-service (ISPR), said the military’s media wing.
“The security forces and the law enforcement organizations were immediately mobilized, which managed to thwart the poor conception of the terrorists,” said the ISPR, adding that 18 soldiers had been killed during the operation.
THE Baloutch Liberation Army (Bla), one of the most eminent separatist groups operating in the Southwest province, claimed the responsibility of the attacks, saying that it had captured a camp of the Pakistani security forces in Mangochar.
The attacks, according to local administration, started on Friday evening when activists attacked three different sites in Mangochar. Bilal Shabbir, assistant commissioner of Kalat, said that the attacks had taken place in the areas of Pidrang, Khazeni and Mangochar in the city, where activists began to carry out instant checks of passenger vehicles passing through the city.
During the first incident, the Shabbir said that a van carrying 17 Panjgur soldiers to Quetta had been attacked near the mountainous area of Khazeni, where armed men fought against the security forces. He said that a soldier of the body front (FC), a paramilitary force, was killed separately in clashes with the activists.
“The bodies of soldiers killed were transferred to Quetta,” said Shabbir. “We do not know how many attackers have been killed because they took the bodies of their fighters in the mountains in the dark.”
He said three FC staff members were also injured in the attack, adding that activists set fire to private banking in Mangochar Bazaar.
Separatist groups like Bla have long been at the forefront of a low level insurrection in Balutchistan, the largest province in Pakistan by region and rich in mineral resources. The separatists claim that Islamabad abuses the natural richness of the province while ignoring the local population.
In recent months, BL has become a major security threat, carrying out large -scale attacks in Balutchistan and other parts of Pakistan, targeting Chinese nationals and interests engaged in investment projects, security forces And ethnic punjabis which they perceive as foreigners in Balochistan.
