QUETTA: The Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Chagai, Naal, and Jhao, saying that seven security personnel were killed and that a police checkpoint and government vehicles were set on fire.
In a statement attributed to its spokesperson, Major Gwahram Baloch, the group claimed that on February 4 its fighters targeted a convoy of four vehicles belonging to security forces associated with the Saindak Project in the Shebian area of Chagai using an improvised explosive device (IED). According to the statement, one vehicle was destroyed, two personnel were killed, and three others were seriously injured.
The BLF further claimed that on February 5 its fighters surrounded a police checkpoint in Naal, briefly detained seven personnel for questioning, and later released them. The group said that the checkpoint and several government vehicles were then set on fire. The statement asserted that the checkpoint had been established to monitor militant movement and to extort money from vehicles linked to the oil trade.
According to the same statement, BLF fighters also ambushed an infantry unit of the Pakistani army traveling in two vehicles on the Awaran–Bela main highway in the Arha area of Jhao on February 7. The group claimed that five personnel were killed and several others injured during the attack.
