Pakistani forces, using helicopter gunships, have killed at least six insurgents in the southwestern restive province of Balochistan, the country’s military said, in an operation that came after a spate of attacks on security forces by separatists in the last few weeks.  The operation was conducted on Wednesday in Bulenda, a district 240 km north of the Gwadar port town, in Balochistan, the ISPR, the media wing of the military said. 

“6 Terrorists killed by Security Forces in heavy exchange of fire during an IBO on terrorist hideout in Buleda, Balochistan,” the ISPR said in a tweet. Security forces also recovered a cache of arms and ammunition from the insurgents’ hideout. 

The insurgents who were killed in the operation were involved in the last month’s attack on security forces in Kech. On the night of 25-26 January, ten members of security forces were killed in an attack by Baloch insurgents in Kech. 

Over the last few weeks, Baloch insurgents have stepped their attacks on Pakistani security forces, mounting heavy casualties. Earlier this month, insurgents killed at least 12 members of security forces in an attack, described by many as one of the most audacious attacks in recent months, in the Panjgur district. 

Pakistan security forces took over three days, even after using gunship helicopters in the operation, to neutralize the attack. 

Since the fall of Kabul, the frequency of attacks, especially in the country’s northwestern tribal region and the southwestern part, has grown significantly in recent months, as TTP and Baloch insurgents appear emboldened. 

Significantly, a top US general had also warned that the threat of terrorism has increased in Pakistan. 

 “The threat to Pakistan has risen since our departure from Afghanistan,” US Central Command chief General Kenneth McKenzie, said in his keynote speech at a Washington-based think tank, Middle East Institute. 

“Many of those terrorist groups that operated across the border [Af-Pak] back and forth are now looking at Pakistan,” Gen McKenzie said, “Pakistanis are right to be concerned about it.” 

Reports suggested Baloch insurgents, mostly active along the Pakistan-Iran border, mounted most of the recent attacks in Pakistan. Significantly, border security was one of the primary issues Pakistan officials discussed with Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi when the latter visited Pakistan earlier this week. 

Pakistan’s Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in his meeting with the Iranian minister highlighted “the need to put in collective efforts to deny any space or liberty of action to be exploited by miscreants along the Pak-Iran border.”

(SAM)