Security forces have killed at least 37 terrorists after foiling coordinated attacks at 12 locations across Balochistan, security sources and state media said on Saturday.
“Fitna al Hindustan carried out attacks at 12 locations across Balochistan,” a security source said, adding that all attacks were thwarted due to the timely and effective action.
The source further said that 37 terrorists belonging to Fitna al Hindustan were “sent to hell”.
“Ten personnel of the security institutions and the police embraced martyrdom,” a security source said.
State-run Radio Pakistan, also citing security sources, said the “security forces’ pursuit and engagement with the terrorists at various locations are still ongoing”.
“As a result of these operations, there are reports of further terrorist casualties and damages.”
According to another security source, 88 terrorists have been killed in Balochistan in the last 48 hours. On Thursday, security forces killed 41 terrorists in intelligence-based operations (IBOs) carried out in the province’s Harnai and Panjgur districts.
Earlier on Saturday, provincial government official Shahid Rind said police and the Frontier Corps (FC) had foiled attempted terrorist attacks at a “few places across Balochistan”.
Rind, the special aide to the Chief Minister for political and media affairs, noted on X that the attacks came after over 70 terrorists had been killed over the past two days by security forces at different locations across the province.
According to a media correspondent, while mobile phone services were working, data services were suspended in Quetta, Sibi and Chaman in the wake of the attacks.
Balochistan Planning Minister Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi strongly condemned the “damage to public properties and terrorising citizens by a handful of terrorists”.
“Balochistan will not be held hostage by these perpetrators of violence. With public support, LEAs (law enforcement agencies) have foiled terrorist designs,” he said on X.
Buledi further said that Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti “cut short his Islamabad engagements, including a meeting with the World Bank President & returned to Quetta immediately to resume official work at the CM House”.
An emergency was imposed in all government hospitals across the province on the directives of Health Minister Bakht Muhammad Kakar and Health Secretary Mujeebur Rehman.
Kakar was supervising the provision of medical treatment to those “injured in the Quetta firing”, a statement from the provincial health department said.
The health minister directed Quetta Trauma Centre Managing Director Dr Arbab Kamran and Quetta Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Abdul Hadi Kakar to ensure the “immediate” provision of medical facilities.
According to the statement, the operating theatres of the Quetta Trauma Centre and Civil Hospital have been put on alert, and additional doctors have been deployed.
‘IED, explosives neutralised in Nasirabad’
Separately, police said suspected explosive materials were found on a railway track in Balochistan’s Nasirabad district.
“An anti-tank mine and explosive material were found on the railway line near Rabi Pul,” said a statement by Nasirabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asadullah Nasir.
“A suspected IED (improvised explosive device) was neutralised as the police, FC and Special Branch took timely action,” it added.
The recovered items included half a kilogramme of explosive material, petrol and an iron rod, according to SSP Nasir. The items were handed over to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) for further investigation.
Railway tracks are a frequent target of terrorists, with the Jaffar Express coming under attack several times over the past year.
Most recently, on Monday night, a blast on the railway track linking Sindh to Balochistan derailed four bogies of the Quetta-bound Jaffar Express train coming from Peshawar and damaged the track.
The Jaffar Express had also escaped attacks in Nasirabad in October and November last year. Similar attempts also occurred during the two months in Kachhi and Sindh’s Shikarpur district.
Rise in terrorism
Earlier this week, CTD said six proclaimed offenders affiliated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed during an operation in Pishin.
On January 5, an IED attack in Panjgur killed one person and injured 16 others.
Despite record militant deaths, Pakistan saw a sharp escalation in militant violence in 2025, with terrorist attacks rising by 34 per cent and terrorism-related fatalities increasing by 21pc year-on-year, according to data released by the Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies.
As many as 699 terrorist attacks were recorded countrywide during the year.
In early December, security forces carried out a two-day operation against militants who attacked the brigade headquarters of Frontier Corps in Chagai district’s Nokundi area.
The same day a suicide bomber detonated himself at the main gate of the FC headquarters, armed terrorists also launched an attack on an FC checkpost in Panjgur district’s Gurmakan area.
On November 24, three personnel were martyred and 12 sustained injuries in a suicide attack on the FC headquarters in Peshawar.
This is a developing story that is being updated as the situation evolves. Initial reports in the media can sometimes be inaccurate. We will strive to ensure timeliness and accuracy by relying on credible sources, such as concerned, qualified authorities and our staff reporters.
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