Pakistan says 42 security personnel killed in three Balochistan attacks this week

Pakistan's military on Wednesday said that 42 police and army personnel have been killed in three separate militant attacks in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan since July 6, as security forces intensified operations against insurgents.

Military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry said the latest incidents have taken the death toll since Monday to 42, with most of those killed being police officers and soldiers.

Addressing a televised press conference, Chaudhry said Pakistani security forces had also killed 54 suspected insurgents during multiple operations carried out over the same period.

According to the military, militants launched three major attacks across Balochistan since Monday.

One of the attacks took place on the outskirts of Quetta, where gunmen targeted civilians, killing four people, Chaudhry said.

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"We will chase you, we will hurt you," Chaudhry said, adding that several Afghan nationals were allegedly involved in the recent attacks.

"We will take on each and every terrorist, their facilitators, those who harbour them, those who nourish them and those who provide them bases, wherever they are located," he said.

Police post attacked, soldiers ambushed

Chaudhry said 18 police personnel had been held hostage since late Monday after dozens of militants attacked a police check post in Ziarat district. The assault also left nine police officers dead.

He identified the attackers as members of what Pakistan refers to as "Fitna al-Khawarij," a term the government uses for the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

Separately, 11 soldiers were killed on Wednesday when militants ambushed their vehicle on a highway in Balochistan, the military said.

The latest violence comes days after the BLA claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks on security forces across the province, where the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also maintains a significant presence.

Violence escalates as protests emerge abroad

Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but least populated province, has witnessed a long-running separatist insurgency alongside attacks by the TTP, a group distinct from but allied with the Afghan Taliban.

Pakistan says the TTP has grown stronger since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021 and frequently accuses Afghanistan of providing support to the TTP, the BLA and other militant organisations. Kabul has repeatedly rejected those allegations.

Islamabad has, in turn, conducted several cross-border strikes targeting what it describes as TTP hideouts inside Afghanistan.

Earlier on Tuesday, at least nine police officers were killed when heavily armed militants attacked a security checkpoint guarding a dam construction site in Balochistan. Several personnel remain missing following the assault.

Authorities later launched a clearance operation in the area, during which 15 suspected militants were killed.

Meanwhile, Baloch activists staged a demonstration in the German city of Bremen, accusing Pakistani authorities of escalating human rights abuses in Balochistan, including enforced disappearances, custodial killings and collective punishment.

The protest, organised by the Baloch National Movement (BNM), called on the international community and human rights organisations to intervene over the alleged crackdown in the province.

With inputs from agencies