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Balochistan Violence
Twenty-one passengers and four paramilitary soldiers were killed by militants holding hostages after seizing control of a train in Balochistan, an army general said on Wednesday. Army spokesman Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif told Dunya News TV that security forces killed all 33 militants present at the scene. "The armed forces successfully concluded the operation in the (Wednesday) evening by killing all terrorists and rescuing all passengers safely, Lt Gen Sharif said. He said that 21 passengers were killed by the terrorists when they attacked the train on Tuesday. He added that four paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers were also killed in the incident. "The forces killed all 33 terrorists and secured the release of hostages, he said. The Jaffar Express, carrying some 400 passengers in nine coaches, was going from Quetta to Peshawar when militants derailed it using explosives and hijacked it near the mountainous terrain of Gudalar and Piru Kunri in a tunnel 160 kilometres from Quetta. The
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir visited Balochistan on Saturday amid clashes in the restive province in which 18 security personnel and 23 terrorists have been killed in the last 24 hours, according to a media report. The army chief was given a comprehensive brief on the prevailing security situation in the province which was also attended by senior security and intelligence officials, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. The army chief along with Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti and Governor Sheikh Jaffar Khan Mandokhail offered prayers at the funeral of the slain soldiers and also visited the injured soldiers in the Combined Military Hospital Quetta, according to the Pakistan military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). No matter what these so-called frenemies' may do, you will surely be defeated by the resilience of our proud nation and its armed forces, Gen Munir said. The COAS also appreciated the efforts of the valiant officer
Pakistan decided to launch a comprehensive operation against militants in the southwestern province of Balochistan after a series of deadly attacks. The participants of the Federal Apex Committee of the National Action Plan on Tuesday approved a comprehensive military operation, said a statement. The target of the blitz would be the leading terrorist organisations operating in Balochistan including the Majeed Brigade, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), and Balochistan Raaji Anjou-R-Sanger (BRAS) who targeted innocent civilians and foreign nationals to scuttle Pakistan's economic progress by creating insecurity at the behest of hostile external powers. It was decided during a meeting headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and attended by senior civil and military officials, including Army Chief General Asim Munir. The participants of the meeting, which focused on Reinvigorating Pakistan's Counter Terrorism (CT) Campaign, were briefed on the evolv
Pakistani security forces faced off with insurgents in two separate raids hours apart on their hideouts in two troubled areas in the country killing 12 militants and wounding six others, the military said Wednesday. Four insurgents were killed in the first raid in Kech, a district in the restive southwestern Balochistan province, it said in a statement. The raid in Balochistan came days after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in the capital, Quetta, killing at least 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff, and wounding about 62 others, some critically. A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed Saturday's attack, saying the bomber targeted troops present at the railway station. The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad, and authorities had vowed to eliminate it. Also early Wednesday, troops raided a militant hideout of the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan, killing eight militants and wounding