QUETTA, Pakistan — A large contingent of militants launched an overnight assault on a police post in southwestern Pakistan, setting off a fierce gun battle that left nine officers dead and wounded several others, officials announced Tuesday. The attack represents the most recent escalation in a wave of militant violence that has been intensifying across the region.
The assault occurred in a remote part of Ziarat district within Balochistan province, according to police, who offered no additional specifics. Eight police officers were taken captive by the attackers, though security forces later managed to recover all of them, according to Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government.
No organization has yet stepped forward to claim responsibility for the attack, though suspicion is expected to focus on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army.
The BLA did claim credit for a suicide attack over the weekend targeting a security post in the coastal town of Jiwani, a claim the government has neither confirmed nor denied.
Authorities did acknowledge that armed individuals attacked civilians on the outskirts of Quetta city during the weekend. In the aftermath, residents from nearby villages have staged a sit-in protest close to Quetta, calling for improved security measures and protection from future violence.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi attributed the latest attack to what he characterized as militants backed by India, though he offered no evidence to support that claim. India has consistently rejected Pakistan’s accusations that it supports separatist groups in Balochistan or Pakistani Taliban militants.
Naqvi’s statement also honored the fallen officers and extended condolences to their families, declaring that such attacks “cannot sabotage peace.”
The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, also maintains a significant foothold in Balochistan and has carried out attacks there as well.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by land area but its least populated, and it has long struggled with an insurgency driven by separatist factions alongside attacks from the Pakistani Taliban. The BLA, which the United States classified as a foreign terrorist organization in 2019, has been responsible for numerous strikes against both security forces and civilians throughout the province in recent years.
