- Major Wajahat Waheed was killed in an IED blast targeting security forces during an operation in Gwadar
- Balochistan has been the site of a long-running separatist insurgency that has intensified in recent years
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani army major and four separatist militants were killed in multiple operations in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, the military said on Monday, amid a surge in violence in the region.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but least developed province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, and has been the site of a long-running separatist insurgency that has intensified in recent years.
The security forces gunned down four militants during an intelligence-based operation in Jattakabad area of Balochistan’s Kalat district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
In the second incident, Army Major Wajahat Waheed was killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeted a security forces’ team during a clearance operation in the Gwadar district.
“Sanitization operations will continue to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.
The development comes amid a spike in attacks in Balochistan, along with kidnappings of civilians and government officials.
On Saturday, unidentified gunmen attacked a marble mining site in Khuzdar and kidnapped at least 18 local laborers, a senior police official said on Sunday. The attack came two days after the kidnapping of 20 police constables in the province. Last week, unidentified armed men abducted Asad Ullah Kakar, commissioner of Balochistan’s Rakhshan Division, while he was traveling from Quetta through Kharan district.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks and kidnappings in the region, where separatist militants have frequently targeted foreign nationals, infrastructure projects, security forces, police and non-native Pakistanis in recent years.
The separatists accuse the central government of stealing the region’s resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. The Pakistani government denies the allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan.
Islamabad has frequently accused India of backing militant groups and Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil for attacks in Pakistan’s western regions that border Afghanistan. New Delhi and Kabul deny this.
