Eighteen paramilitary security personnel were killed and three others seriously injured in an attack in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, police and the army said on Saturday. The Baloch separatist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In poor but mineral-rich Balochistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran, security forces have been battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence for decades. “A vehicle carrying unarmed paramilitary officers was opened fire by 70 to 80 armed attackers near the town of Mangochar, near the Afghan border,” a police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Confirming news received from local sources, he said, “Eighteen paramilitary forces were killed in the overnight attack.” Three other paramilitary officers were seriously injured, while two managed to survive.
The army confirmed in a statement that 18 paramilitary forces were killed in what it called a “cowardly act of terrorism.” No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
A statement issued by the military said that 12 attackers were killed in a counter-attack by security forces and police overnight. Attacks against security forces have increased in the province in recent months. Last January, six security personnel were killed in a bomb blast carried out by the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The BLA has claimed deadly attacks against security forces deployed there or Pakistanis from other provinces of Balochistan, including Punjab. Militants have also targeted energy projects funded by foreign investment (particularly from China), accusing outsiders of exploiting the resource-rich region. In November, a bomb blast at Quetta’s main railway station killed 26 people, including 14 soldiers.
The group also claimed responsibility for a coordinated attack by dozens of attackers in August, which killed at least 39 people. Violence has also increased in Pakistan’s border areas since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Pakistan has been accusing the Taliban government of failing to defeat militants who attack from Afghan soil.
According to the Center for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based research group, more than 1,600 people were killed in violent attacks in 2024, making it the deadliest year in nearly a decade.
