Terrorists launched three coordinated strikes in the Mach area of Balochistan on Monday night, but security personnel "successfully thwarted them," provincial interim information minister Jan Achakzai said.
According to his post on X, the militants were associated with the Aslam Acho group. He stated, “Fortunately, no damage was inflicted on any installations, and there were no casualties among our security forces,” he said.
The minister continued, saying that security personnel were pursuing the terrorists who had retreated. Achakzai continued, “We remain hopeful that all threats will be eliminated before dawn,”
He had already claimed to have received information of a "few rockets" fired from Mach's highland regions. The minister stated in a post on X that the authorities were on high alert and that no casualties had been reported.
According to Saleem Tareen, superintendent of Mach Central Jail, the building, its employees, and the inmates were all safe and undamaged by the attacks.
“The forces around the jail are fully alert,” he said.
In the meantime, the provincial health administration of Quetta said that two injured individuals from Mach had been sent to a trauma facility.
In response to the reported attacks, the department declared an emergency in the hospitals located in Quetta and Mach.
“Instructions have been issued for all doctors and staff to be present on duty immediately. Instructions have been issued to strengthen the security of hospitals to deal with any unpleasant situation. Instructions have been issued to gather medicines, medical equipment, lab supplies, and abundant stock of blood,” the statement said.
According to Abdullah Khan Noorzai, the health secretary for Balochistan, all of the surrounding Quetta ambulances were sent to Mach.
The proscribed militant Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) group claimed responsibility for the attack. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is a rebel group fighting the Pakistani state. The declared goal of BLA is Balochistan's total independence.
The terrible event occurs just ten days before the national elections on February 8.
Since Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, a proscribed militant group, broke off its ceasefire with the government in November 2022, there has been a surge in terror activity in Pakistan over the past year, particularly in KP and Balochistan.
Pakistan saw 1,524 violence-related deaths and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror incidents and counter-terror operations in 2023, according to an annual security report published by the Centre for Research and Security Studies. This was a record six-year high.
With nearly 90% of all deaths and 84% of attacks, including acts of terrorism and security force operations, KP and Balochistan were the main hotspots for violence.
On January 18, Pakistan launched retaliatory strikes on Iranian territory, targeting installations associated to claimed Pakistani Baloch separatist forces.
According to a statement issued by the military’s media affairs wing, “hideouts used by terrorist organisations namely BLA and Balochistan Liberation Front” were struck in an intelligence-based operation codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’.
