Five people, including three Pakistan’s Frontier Corps soldiers, were killed and at least 30 injured when an explosion occurred near their convoy in Noshki, Balochistan on Sunday. This incident comes days after BLA insurgents hijacked a train with nearly 440 passengers.
“There were seven buses in the convoy which was heading to Taftan (on the Iranian border). At Noshki, a car laden with explosives hit one of the buses,” said Mohammed Zafar, a police official in Noshki, a town in Balochistan.
Five people were killed and 35 wounded, he said.
Separately, three members of the security forces were killed Saturday evening in the neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province according to police sources.
The northwestern province has seen a rise in attacks by the Pakistani Taliban since the Afghan Taliban — with which it shares a common ideology and lineage — returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
According to an AFP count, since January 1 around 130 people, the majority members of the security forces, have been killed in violence carried out by armed groups fighting against the state — mainly in the west bordering Afghanistan.
Immediately after the attack, the Fateh Squad of the BLA advanced and completely surrounded another bus, systematically eliminating all military personnel on board, bringing the total number of enemy casualties to 90.
Earlier, BLA insurgents hijacked the Jaffar Express, which was carrying about 440 passengers, when it was travelling from Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, to Peshawar, the capital of the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The BLA derailed the train using explosives near Sibi city, about 160 km from Quetta on March 12. After nearly two days of operations, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said 18 off-duty military and paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel, three railway staff and five passengers were killed in the initial attack. Five Frontier Corps personnel were killed in the ensuing battle with the insurgents.
Via: ET Desk
