Pakistan’s eighteen paramilitary soldiers and 23 rebels were killed in heavy clashes in northwestern region of Balochistan on Saturday.
The troops suffered casualties when they engaged the insurgents who erected barricades on a key highway in Balochistan’s Kalat district, bordering Afghanistan, the Pakistani military said in a statement.
The security forces “successfully removed the roadblock” following the fighting overnight into Saturday morning, the military said.
It said 18 security personnel died during the operation and vowed that “the perpetrators, facilitators and abettors of this heinous and cowardly act, will be brought to justice."
The Baloch Liberation Army separatist (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the attack on Pakistani security forces.
In a statement, BLA spokesman Azad Baloch said their fighters "have made significant progress in the Kalat attacks, achieving their targeted objectives.”
He also claimed that insurgents attacked a military post in the district.
Baloch said their 100 fighters took part in the coordinated attacks on security forces in Kalat district.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the latest attacks.
They said the operations will continue in Balochistan until the insurgents are eliminated.
Balochistan’s provincial leaders also condemned the attacks and praised the security forces for eliminating the “terrorists.”
In 2024, Pakistan’s civil and military security forces witnessed a 40% surge in militant attacks by all groups, as compared to 2023.
Last December the military claimed that security forces killed 925 insurgents in 2024, a record high compared to the past five years, while 383 soldiers were killed in such operations last year.
The BLA often targets security forces, civilians and foreigners, especially Chinese working on multibillion-dollar projects in Pakistan.
In November, a BLA suicide bomber detonated at a train station in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff.
The BLA enjoys the backing of Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and are a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban.
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