A total of 90 Pakistani army personnel were killed after the Baloch rebels attacked a military convoy carrying troops on Sunday, said the Baloch Liberation Army.
However, a Pakistani police officer said that only five paramilitary troops were killed in the attack.
Claiming responsibility for the attack, the BLA, which is the separatist group in Pakistan’s Balochistan, said they “targeted a convoy of the occupying Pakistani military a few hours ago in a VBIED Fidayee attack near Rakshan Mill on the RCD highway in Noshki”.
The rebel group claimed that the convoy “consisted of eight buses, one of which was completely destroyed in the explosion”.
The Boloch separatist group said they “systematically” eliminated all military personnel on board, bringing “the total number of enemy casualties to 90”.
“There were seven buses in the convoy which was heading to Taftan (on the Iranian border). At Noshki, a car laden with explosives hit one of the buses,” Mohammed Zafar, a police official in Noshki, told AFP.
Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister of Balochistan, condemned the attack.
Earlier this week, the unprecedented hostage situation began on Tuesday near Mashkaf Tunnel, about 157 km from Quetta, when the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), an ethnic Baloch separatist group, attacked the Jaffar Express and took more than 450 passengers hostage, including security personnel.
The nine-bogie train was traveling north from Quetta, Balochistan, to Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when it came under bomb and gun attack on Tuesday.
After hours of military operation, Pakistan’s military claimed that its forces had killed all the Bloch separatists who had hijacked the Jaffar Express train, in the country’s restive southwestern Balochistan province and freed the remaining hostages, numbering 300.
The slain militants included suicide bombers taken out by snipers while seated amidst hostages.
What is Baloch Liberation Army?
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is a Baloch separatist group that operates primarily in Balochistan. It seeks independence for Balochistan, citing historical grievances, economic exploitation, and human rights abuses by the Pakistani state.
The group has carried out numerous attacks on Pakistani security forces, government infrastructure, and foreign investments, particularly Chinese projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The Pakistani government considers the BLA a terrorist organization, and it has also been designated as a terrorist group by the US and the UK. However, Baloch separatists view it as a resistance movement fighting for autonomy and self-determination.
