In the south-western province of Balochistan, four of the Pakistani army’s border patrol personnel were allegedly slain by “terrorists” coming from Iran.
According to an army statement, officials were speaking with Iranian counterparts to avoid similar events in the future. The assault had place in the Kech district.
The incident has not yet been assigned a perpetrator by any group.
For decades, separatists in Balochistan have battled the authorities. The province’s boundary is very open and long.
According to reports, the four dead troops’ weapons were grabbed by the militants. Pictures of the four—a corporal, a lance-corporal, and two privates—were included in the army statement.
Last month nine Pakistani security officers were killed and at least 13 wounded in a suicide attack in Balochistan.
Four Pakistani security personnel were murdered in a similar militant attack on a border post in Balochistan, which is home to ethnic Baluchis, in January.
Attacks on Pakistani security personnel are frequently claimed as having been carried out by the proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). Pakistani officials assert that the organisation has created safe havens near Iran’s borders, a claim Tehran refutes.
Balochistan, a thinly populated province abundant in natural resources like copper, gold, and oil, is what the BLA claims to be fighting for. According to the terrorist group, Pakistani authorities extort and discriminate against ethnic Baluchis. Islamabad denies the accusations. The ethnic Baluchi population of Pakistan, which totals 231 million, is barely under 4%.
A sizable majority of the terror-related fatalities in Pakistan last year were brought on by the BLA. The BLA is “the fastest-growing terrorist group in the world,” according to the Australia-based Centre for Economics and Peace.
The BLA has received terrorist group designations from Pakistan, the US, and the UK.
To stop BLA members from moving across the border, Pakistan is working to fence its 830-kilometer border with Iran.
