Given the situation, violence is likely to escalate in Balochistan.
by Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
On July 9, 2024, four Army soldiers were killed and another three sustained injuries when Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) cadres attacked a military convoy on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route in Sami area of Kech District. BLA ‘spokesperson’ Jeeyand Baloch issued a statement to the media and claimed responsibility for the attack.
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| File Photo: Bloch rebels |
On July 6, 2024, two Policeman sustained injuries when BLA cadres targeted them with a remote-controlled Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near the Excise Office on Sariab Road in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. Jeeyand Baloch claimed responsibility for the attack.
On July 6, 2024, BLA cadres killed Abid, son of Pir Bakhsh, in the Koshk area of Buleda tehsil (revenue unit) in Kech District. While claiming responsibility for the killing, Jeeyand Baloch claimed Abid was working as an informant for Pakistan’s Military Intelligence.
On July 6, 2024, one soldier was killed and another sustained injuries when BLA cadres planted explosives in a bunker used by Security Forces (SFs) in the Margat area of Bolan District. While claiming responsibility for the attack, Jeeyand Baloch asserted that BLA cadres planted explosives in an empty bunker and detonated it using a remote-controlled IED when the two soldiers entered the bunker.
On June 26, 2024, one soldier was killed in a BLA sniper attack in the Pagnzan area of Zamuran tehsil in Kech District. BLA claimed responsibility for the attack.
On July 6, 2024, one soldier was killed and another sustained injuries when BLA cadres planted explosives in a bunker used by Security Forces (SFs) in the Margat area of Bolan District. While claiming responsibility for the attack, Jeeyand Baloch asserted that BLA cadres planted explosives in an empty bunker and detonated it using a remote-controlled IED when the two soldiers entered the bunker.
On June 26, 2024, one soldier was killed in a BLA sniper attack in the Pagnzan area of Zamuran tehsil in Kech District. BLA claimed responsibility for the attack.
On June 24, 2024, at least 11 soldiers were killed and an unspecified number sustained injuries when BLA cadres attacked a military camp in the Iskalko area of Kalat District. BLA claimed responsibility for the attack. Jeeyand Baloch disclosed that the attack began at 10:30pm in the night of June 24, in which BLA’s Fateh Squad and Special Tactical Operations Squad launched coordinated rocket and heavy weapon attacks on the SFs from multiple directions.
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), in 34 BLA-linked incidents recorded in 2024, at least 97 persons, including 17 civilians, 59 SF personnel and 21 militants, have been killed (data till July 14, 2024). During the corresponding period of 2023, 20 such incidents resulted in 46 fatalities, including five civilians, 39 SF personnel and two militants. The whole of 2023 recorded 39 incidents in which 77 persons were killed, including 19 civilians, 50 SF personnel and eight militants.
Since August 1, 2004, when the first BLA-linked incident, was recorded by SATP, at least 755 persons, including 211 civilians, 330 SF personnel, 194 militants, and 20 in the Not Specified category, have been killed (data till July 14, 2024). On August 1, 2004, five soldiers and a civilian were killed when BLA cadres targeted SF vehicles in the Khuzdar District.
Meanwhile, on July 5, 2024, BLA on its official media channel Hakkal, claimed that insurgents had conducted 95 attacks in 43 areas over the past six months, in which 253 SF personnel were killed, 100 SF personnel were injured and some 20 weapons were seized. Additionally, BLA ‘arrested’ 39 SF personnel. During this period, the BLA captured five SF camps. The report also claimed that in six months, BLA’s operations resulted in the death of 20 collaborators of the Pakistan Army, and the destruction of 23 vehicles and 14 military installations. Earlier, on January 5, 2024, in its annual operational report published on Hakkal, BLA outlined a series of attacks and operations conducted throughout 2023. According to the report, the BLA carried out 247 attacks against SFs, including nine special operations and two suicide missions. The outfit claimed that these attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 171 soldiers and injuries to another 251. Additionally, BLA claimed to have neutralized 42 individuals identified as collaborators or informants. The report also claimed material damage inflicted by the BLA on SFs, including the destruction of 99 vehicles and motorcycles, as well as the targeting of 23 military installations and four drones.
Comprised mostly of Marri and Bugti tribe members, BLA was formed in response to the growing resentment in Balochistan over the continuous Government exploitation of the province’s natural resources and the neglect of development and welfare in the province. The group has about 6,000 cadres spread across Balochistan and in the bordering areas of Afghanistan. It is currently led by Hyrbyair Marri, who is in exile in London. Bashir Zeb Baloch is the ‘commander-in-chief’ of the outfit.
Out of all Baloch insurgent groups, the BLA is the only Baloch group which has a dedicated suicide attack squad, the ‘Majeed Brigade’, named after two brothers, Majeed Langove Senior and Majeed Langove Junior, who carried out suicide attacks in August 1974 and March 2010, respectively. Majeed Senior tried to assassinate then Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto when he was on an official visit to Quetta. He wanted to kill the Prime Minister for his dismissal of the National Awami Party’s government in Balochistan, but Majeed Senior lost his life during the operation. Majeed Junior ‘sacrificed’ himself to save his associates when SFs raided the house where they were staying in Quetta’s Wahdat Colony. Majeed Junior held back the SF raiders to give his associates time to escape. Following Majeed Junior’s death, a BLA leader, Aslam Achu, established the insurgent group’s suicide squad, and named it the Majeed Brigade, currently led by Hammal Rehan Baloch. The Brigade carried out its first vehicle-borne suicide attack on December 30, 2011, when Baaz Khan Marri targeted tribal elder Shafiq Mengal, son of former acting Chief Minister and Federal Minister Naseer Mengal, on the Arbab Karam Khan Road in Quetta. Shafeeq, who had run a ‘death squad’ targeting Baloch insurgents in different parts of the province, escaped unhurt, but 14 persons, including women and children, were killed, and 35 were injuries.
Some of the major attacks by the Majeed Brigade in 2024 included:
March 25: Majeed Brigade cadres attacked PNS Siddique Naval Air Station in the Turbat town of Kech District and claimed that more than 30 soldiers were killed. The Army, however, stated it thwarted the attack and killed four BLA cadres, while one soldier was killed.
March 20: Majeed Brigade cadres attacked the Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) Complex in Gwadar town (Gwadar District) and killed two soldiers. SFs, however, stated that they thwarted the attack and killed eight BLA cadres.
January 29: Nine BLA cadres, four Railway Police personnel and two civilians were killed, while four others, including two SF personnel and one child, sustained injuries when the Majeed Brigade launched three coordinated attacks targeting Frontier Corps Headquarters, the Railway Station and the District Jail in the Mach town of Kachhi District. BLA ‘spokesperson’, Jeeyand Baloch claimed the attack, stating that it was a joint attack in coordination with other factions, during which BLA insurgents controlled Mach city and surrounding areas for over 72 hours.
Significantly, in response to the Pakistan military’s new counter-terrorism Operation Azm-e-Istehkam (Commitment for Stability) launched on June 22, 2024, the BLA-led Baloch Raj Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), an umbrella organization of Baloch ‘pro-independence’ groups, issued a statement on July 8, 2024, against Pakistan’s military campaign. In a media release, BRAS ‘spokesperson’ Baloch Khan condemned the operation as a blatant intensification of the ongoing ‘genocide’ against the Baloch people. Baloch Khan claimed that the operation, which, according to the official narrative, aims to stabilize and secure Pakistan, is merely a pretext for escalating military aggression in Balochistan. He asserted that BRAS and its allied organizations are prepared to defend their land and people against any form of military action, promising to defeat the ‘invading’ forces.
Given the situation, violence is likely to escalate in Balochistan.
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty is a Counter-terrorism Expert on Pakistan at Institute for Conflict Management (ICM) in New Delhi
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