QUETTA: A fresh spike in militant violence is reported to have shocked Balochistan with multiple coordinated attacks reported across the province’s urban centres, remote districts and coastal belt, security officials and local monitors say.
The Khorasan Diary, a non‑partisan monitoring platform, reported that several coordinated assaults occurred in rapid succession, including attacks near key security checkpoints and along main arteries in and around the provincial capital Quetta.
In one instance, a Frontier Corps (FC) checkpoint near Wali‑Jet on Sariyab Road came under gunfire and explosive attack, prompting a swift response operation that left the site cordoned off for hours.
Reports gathered by MM News indicate that all the incidents of violence and militant attacks took place across multiple districts of Balochistan, specifically Quetta (including Sariyab Road and Ghoni Talab areas), Mastung (Marove in Dasht tehsil), Nushki, Kharan (Kalan area), and Dera Bugti (Sui town gas pipeline).
This came months after 31 January, when armed groups affiliated with the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) launched a wave of gun and bomb attacks across at least a dozen towns and cities, including Quetta, Gwadar, Pasni, Tump, Kharan, Panjgur, Nushki and Dalbandin. Coastal hubs such as Gwadar and Pasni saw attacks on security and intelligence‑linked facilities, with a high‑voltage electricity transmission tower sabotaged in one district and hand‑grenade assaults hitting police checkpoints near Dhadar and Sibi later on the same night.
The pattern of near‑simultaneous strikes across urban centres, remote districts and key infrastructure routes effectively stretched security forces thin and triggered a province‑wide alert.
In the days that followed, security forces undertook large‑scale clearance and search operations in several districts, leading to the reported deaths of more than 200 militants and insurgents from 29 January to 2 February, according to official figures.
At least 133 insurgents were killed between 31 January and 1 February alone, along with 16 security personnel and 31 civilians, turning the period into one of the deadliest stretches for the separatist militancy in decades.
Local residents described conditions resembling a de‑facto lockdown in parts of Quetta, Gwadar and other towns, with stricter vehicle checks, intermittent power outages and the closure of some markets and transport routes. Provincial authorities later imposed Section 144 in multiple districts to curb unlawful assembly and further attacks, while the federal government reiterated that it would be “zero‑tolerance” towards any group attempting to undermine peace in Balochistan.
Pakistani authorities have alleged external support for the insurgents, while New Delhi has repeatedly rejected such accusations and pointed instead to human‑rights concerns and governance failures in Balochistan.
