Militant Attack Kills Nine Police Officers Raises Fresh Security Concerns in Balochistan

At least nine police officers were killed and several others are missing after gunmen attacked a security post guarding the construction site of a multi-billion rupee dam in Pakistan's south-western Balochistan province, a local official said.

The attackers opened fire on police guarding the Mangi Dam project in the Ziarat district, Deputy Commissioner Abdul Quddus Achakzai told BBC Urdu. Two senior officers are among those killed, and a search operation is under way to find missing personnel, he added.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Balochistan officials said security forces had killed 15 members of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) in response, as part of a "clearance operation" in Ziarat.

Cross-Border Tensions

The attack comes amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The two neighbours, once close allies, have exchanged strikes in recent weeks in what observers described as their most serious military confrontation in years.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan's Taliban regime of providing shelter to militants responsible for planning attacks on Pakistani soil. The Afghan Taliban reject those allegations, describing militancy as Pakistan's internal problem and accusing Islamabad of deflecting blame for its own security failures.

Last week, Afghanistan's Taliban regime said it had carried out strikes in the region, with Pakistan's military saying it had shot down four drones. The Afghan Air Force launched retaliatory airstrikes against alleged ISIS bases in Pakistan's Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, warning Islamabad of further action, according to an Outlook India report.

The Afghan Defence Ministry issued a stern warning to Pakistan, declaring it will target any location that poses a threat to Afghanistan's national security.

Pakistan's Military Response

Pakistan's security forces killed 29 militants in operations near the Afghan border, including a ground assault and subsequent cross-border strikes, as tensions with Kabul escalated into reciprocal diplomatic protests. The military action followed a recent wave of militant attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Information Minister Atta Tarar said security forces carried out an intelligence-based ground operation in Bajaur district on June 28, killing four militants, followed by targeted strikes under 'Operation Ghazab lil-Haq' against militant camps in Afghanistan's Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces, killing 25 militants.

Pakistan summoned Afghanistan's charge d'affaires and issued a formal protest over the recent attack on the Pakistan Rangers headquarters in Karachi. Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi alleged that Afghan nationals were involved in the Karachi attack and said the arrest of one suspect pointed to continued use of Afghan territory to facilitate attacks inside Pakistan.

Afghanistan responded with its own diplomatic protest, summoning Pakistan's charge d'affaires in Kabul to register a "strong and resolute protest" over Pakistani air strikes on civilian homes, alleging that the strikes killed 36 civilians and injured 163 others.

Balochistan's Long-Running Insurgency

Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, has seen unrest for decades, as local militant groups demand greater autonomy from the Pakistani government. In May, local officials said the Balochistan Liberation Army separatist group was behind an attack on a train transporting military personnel, which killed 20.

The Mangi Dam, which the police were guarding when the attack occurred, is being built to help overcome a water shortage facing Balochistan's capital city of Quetta.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack, saying the killed officers were "the pride of our nation". Protests against the attack on police have been taking place along a national highway near the site of the incident.