After back-to-back Baloch attacks, Pakistan claims killing 177 militants in 2 days — highest in decades – Firstpost

After Baloch insurgents launched coordinated attacks on police stations and security posts, Pakistani authorities on Monday claimed that the police and the army have killed 177 militants in the past 48 hours, according to the Associated Press.

Analysts noted that the scale of the militants’ killings was the highest in decades.

Officials said that Pakistani security forces killed around two dozen militants overnight in multiple raids in the restive southwestern part of the country bordering Afghanistan, raising the militants’ death toll to 177 in the past 48 hours.

These counterattacks were aimed at the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which killed at least 33 persons in coordinated attacks over the weekend.

For decades, groups in Balochistan province —home to the Baloch ethnic minority— have been pursuing a self‑determination movement. Some of these groups, such as the BLA, have taken up arms and waged an armed movement to achieve the objective.

Attacks over the weekend occurred at a time when various groups, such as the BLA and Tehrik‑i‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have ramped up their campaigns against the Pakistani state. The year 2025 was the deadliest in over a decade as insurgency‑related deaths were the highest since 2014, according to South Asia Terrorism Portal. The new year also appears to be on track to be nearly as deadly, if not more, as January reported more deaths — 386 versus last month’s 341.

While Pakistan has seen an all‑round deterioration of the security situation, as TTP has battered it in the northwest, the BLA has ramped up its campaign in the southwest, and the Afghan Taliban has clashed along the contested de facto border along the Durand Line between the two countries, Pakistan has blamed India for these attacks, dubbing both TTP and BLA as Indian proxies — a claim India has rejected.