ISPR: nine terrorists killed in Balochistan's Kachhi and Wadh

Security forces killed nine terrorists in two intelligence-based operations in Balochistan, the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said on Wednesday. Dawn reported the statement, along with separate attacks in Khuzdar and Noshki.

The two operations

The operations took place on October 26 in the Kachhi and Wadh districts, on the reported presence of what the ISPR called Fitna al-Hindustan. That is the term the state uses for Balochistan-based militant groups, to stress what it describes as India’s role in terrorism and in destabilising Pakistan. The claim of Indian involvement is Pakistan’s official position.

In Kachhi, forces destroyed a hideout and killed seven terrorists in an exchange of fire. In Wadh, they said they tracked and intercepted a group’s movement and killed two. Weapons and ammunition were recovered in both places, and the ISPR said sanitisation operations were under way to find any other militants in the areas.

The statement repeated that the campaign under “Azm-i-Istehkam” will go on “at full pace”. President Asif Ali Zardari paid tribute to the security forces on X. “Conspiracies of terrorists’ foreign patrons and their local facilitators will be thwarted,” he said.

Attacks the same day

Other violence in the province did not stop. In Karkh tehsil of Khuzdar, gunmen lying in wait opened fire on the convoy of the Khuzdar Range DIG, Imran Qureshi, and the SSP as it returned from inspecting an explosion at Karkh police station the day before. Three policemen were wounded and both senior officers were unhurt. The attackers ran off after police returned fire.

In Noshki, armed men opened fire inside a girls’ degree college and wounded three students, who were taken to the Mir Gul Khan Nasir Teaching Hospital for treatment. Police have not said who was behind either attack, and the reports we drew on give no motive.

The wider picture

This is the latest in a run of operations in the province. Earlier this month, security forces killed eight terrorists in Quetta, Nushki and Khuzdar, and five in Washuk, and an army major was martyred in another round of operations on October 18. Balochistan government officials also said six members of the banned TTP, two would-be female suicide bombers and two commanders of another banned group had been arrested, and that about 90 detainees were being held at a centre where investigations and legal proceedings were under way. Read our earlier reports on ISPR’s account of the Gwadar attacks and on the army chief’s pledge to hit militants “wherever they are”.

The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) counted 225 attacks across the country in September against 199 in August, a rise of 13.1 per cent and the highest monthly total in 12 years. Balochistan was the main theatre with 131 attacks, or 58.2 per cent of the total. In the same month, PICSS said, security forces carried out 74 operations and killed 280 terrorists, of whom 171 died in 35 operations in Balochistan.

What it means

The numbers show a province where operations and attacks are both rising. For residents, the two incidents in Khuzdar and Noshki are a reminder that police convoys and schools can be targeted even as the forces report successes. Casualty figures in operations come from the ISPR and cannot be independently checked, so the PICSS counts are a useful second reference. What to watch: whether sanitisation operations in Kachhi and Wadh find more hideouts, and whether the police can identify who ambushed the Khuzdar convoy.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn.