QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Dozens of militants attacked a police post overnight in southwestern Pakistan, triggering an intense gunbattle that killed nine officers and wounded several others, officials said Tuesday in what was the latest escalation in a region where insurgents have stepped up attacks on security forces.
The attack took place late on Monday in a remote area of the district of Ziarat in the embattled Balochistan province, police said, without
providing further details. The assailants also abducted eight police officers, but all were later recovered by security forces, said Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government.
Rind said the subsequent operation by security forces ended with 15 militants killed and added that intelligence-based operations would continue, vowing a decisive response to all attacks on security forces.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack, though suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army. The group, also known as BLA, claimed responsibility for a weekend suicide attack on a security post in the coastal town of Jiwani. Local media reported that three security personnel were killed in that attack though the government neither confirmed nor denied the reports.
Authorities, however, acknowledged that armed men attacked civilians on the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital, over the weekend. Since then, villagers have staged a sit-in near the city, demanding better security and protection against future attacks.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi blamed the latest attack on what he described as India-backed militants but provided no evidence to support the allegation. India has repeatedly denied Pakistan’s accusations that it backs separatists in Balochistan or the militant Pakistani Taliban group.
The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, also maintain a strong presence in Balochistan and have carried out attacks there.
Naqvi's statement paid tribute to the killed officers and offered condolences to their families. He added that such attacks “cannot sabotage peace.”
In other developments, two children were killed and another child was wounded on Tuesday when an unexploded roadside bomb they had found detonated while they were playing with it on the outskirts of Quetta. Local police official Mohammad Hassan said the children mistook the explosive device for a toy after finding it and taking it home.
It was not immediately who had planted the bomb. Hassan said police were investigating.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populous province, has long been the scene of an insurgency by separatist groups as well as attacks by the Pakistani Taliban. The BLA, which the United States designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2019, has been behind numerous attacks targeting security forces and civilians across the province in recent years.
