Days after BLA offensive, Pakistan deploys helicopters & drones to retake Balochistan town

Days after coordinated attacks by Baloch insurgents, Pakistani officials on Wednesday claimed to have retaken the town of Nushki from fighters of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) with helicopter and drone support after a three‑day battle.

Officials also said that insurgents had advanced at one point to within 1 kilometre of the Chief Minister’s Office in Balochistan’s capital of Quetta.

They further said that Pakistani forces had killed 197 militants in an operation that began on Saturday after the latest Baloch offensive — including at least 58 militants in Nushki.

For its part, the BLA said it had killed 280 Pakistani soldiers in the offensive it named Operation Herof.

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BLA fighters on Saturday stormed public buildings and security installations across Balochistan in one of the group’s largest operations to date and killed more than 50 people. They also took officials hostage and effectively took control of Nushki.

As they fought pitched battles with security forces in more than a dozen locations, Balochistan was nearly brought to a standstill as gunfire and explosions rang out across the province for days.

“On January 31, at around 5:30 in the morning, some miscreants snuck into our homes and took over the property. They occupied the Deputy Commissioner Complex, took Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Hussain and his family hostage. They wanted to stop us from serving the people,” said Assistant Commissioner Naushki Maria Shamoon, according to Reuters.

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Balochistan, home to the ethnic minority Baloch community, is home to a decades‑old self‑determination movement. Baloch nationalists argue that the region’s accession to Pakistan was made under duress and therefore illegitimate. Some groups within the movement —such as the BLA— have taken up arms and waged an insurgency to free the province of Pakistan's control.

Pakistan retakes town after three days

BLA insurgents had seized control of the police station and other security installations in the desert town of Nushki, according to Reuters.

Police told the news agency that seven officers were killed in the fighting before they regained control of the town late on Monday. They added that operations against the BLA continued in other parts of Balochistan.

“Helicopters and drones were used against the militants,” one security official told the agency.

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Security officials said the BLA’s attack began at 4 am on Saturday with suicide blasts in Nushki and the fishing port of Pasni, followed by gun and grenade attacks in 11 more places, including Quetta.

The insurgents seized at least six district administration offices during the siege, took provincial government officials hostage, and had advanced at one point to within 1 kilometre (0.6 miles) of the provincial chief minister’s office in Quetta, police officials told Reuters.

Ahead of the attack, the BLA made announcements in mosques asking people to support and join them, according to the news agency.

Security officials said the BLA announced it was waging a war to take over all state offices in the province.