Pakistani security forces used drones and helicopters to regain control of a city in the southwest of the country, which was in the hands of separatist insurgents, after three days of battle, police said on Wednesday (4). The death toll from the weekend’s violence rose to 58.
The wave of coordinated attacks on Saturday (31), carried out by the BLA, almost paralyzed Pakistan’s largest province, with security forces exchanging fire with insurgents in more than a dozen locations, killing 197 militants.
“I thought the roof and walls of my house were going to explode,” said Robina Ali, a housewife who lives near the main administrative building in the fortified provincial capital, Quetta, where a powerful explosion ripped through the area in the morning.
Fighters from the BLA, the region’s strongest insurgent group, raided schools, banks, markets and security facilities in , in one of their largest operations, killing more than 22 security officers and 36 civilians.
Law enforcement officials provided details of the situation on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press.
In the desert town of Nushki, home to about 50,000 people, insurgents took control of the police station and other security facilities, triggering a three-day standoff.
Police reported that seven officers were killed in clashes before they regained control of the city late on Monday (2), while operations against the BLA continue in other parts of the province.
“More troops have been sent to Nushki,” a security official said.
“Helicopters and drones were used against the militants,” he added.
Pakistan’s Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Night attacks
Pakistan’s largest and poorest province, mineral-rich Balochistan, borders Iran and Afghanistan and is home to Beijing’s investment in the deep-water port of Gwadar and other projects.
The province is facing a decades-long insurgency led by ethnic Baloch separatists seeking greater autonomy and a greater share of its natural resources.
The Balochistan Liberation Army, which called on the province’s population to support the movement, claimed on Tuesday (3) to have killed 280 soldiers during Operation “Herof”, also known as Black Storm, but provided no evidence.
Security officials said the weekend attacks began at 4am on Saturday with suicide bombings in Nushki and the fishing port of Pasni, as well as gun and grenade attacks in 11 other locations, including Quetta.
The insurgents seized at least six district administration offices during the siege and at one point came within a kilometer of the provincial governor’s office in Quetta, police authorities said.
