Seven Pakistani soldiers killed in Balochistan gun attack

By ANI

HARNAI: Seven Pakistan soldiers were killed in a gun attack on Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan post in Harnai district here, according to the country’s Army.

The “terrorist fire raid” targeted an FC post located in Shahrag area of Harnai late on Saturday, Dawn reported.

“During [an] intense exchange of fire, seven brave soldiers embraced shahadat while repulsing raiding terrorists,” an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said.

The incident comes five days after 10 suspected “terrorists” were killed in a gun battle with security forces during an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Awaran area.

Earlier in October, 14 security men — seven personnel of the Frontier Corps and as many civilian guards were killed in an armed attack on their convoy on the Coastal Highway in the Ormara area of Gwadar district.

Balochistan is a resource-rich but least developed province of Pakistan where a movement for freedom is ongoing for the past several decades. Many Baloch believe that the region was independent before 1947 and was forcibly occupied by Pakistan.

While successive governments have promised to criminalise enforced disappearance, none has taken concrete steps and the practice continues with impunity.

The Pakistan Army has launched several operations in Balochistan and has supported criminals, which locals call “death squads”. A large number of political activists, intellectuals, women and children in Pakistan’s Balochistan province are victims of enforced disappearances by the security agencies.

Many of them are languishing in detention centres whereas mutilated bodies of some of these abducted Baloch are found in isolated places.